Bitcoin Magazine

CFTC Chair Says Clarity Act Is ‘So Close’ As August Deadline Nears

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig said the Clarity Act remains within reach, days after Congress missed its July 4 target to pass the crypto market-structure bill. “We’re so close. We have to get this done,” Selig told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. 

Some analysts give the measure even odds of passage before the August 7 recess.

The bill would divide oversight of digital assets between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, a split the industry has sought for years. The House passed the legislation last summer. The Senate has yet to hold a floor vote.

Selig, a Trump appointee confirmed in December, backed the Clarity Act effort as a matter of national competitiveness. He backed the effort as a matter of national competitiveness. 

“It’s critical that we have a federal standard for crypto assets,” he said, pointing to a patchwork of state laws that, in his account, has hurt U.S. business. He described the goal as certainty, clarity, and consumer protection, and called the measure bipartisan. “We have to get it across the line,” he said.

Asked about the holdup, Selig pointed to scope. Democrats have pressed for ethics language addressing President Trump, his family, and their crypto ventures, a demand he characterized as a distraction. 

“There’s a little bit of creep into ethics and other issues, and they’re just derailing the real opportunity to have a bipartisan bill,” he said. 

Democrats have framed the Clarity Act provisions as consumer protection. The bill has also drawn disputes over illicit-finance rules and over a reopened piece of the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law, that concerns whether exchanges may pay yield on stablecoin balances.

Senator Cynthia Lummis, who leads the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee, has said negotiators aim to release bill text and hold a vote this month.

The committee advanced the measure in a 15-9 vote, with two Democrats joining Republicans. Lawmakers have warned that a failure to act before the recess could delay the next opening for years.

Selig on prediction markets, Iran beyond Clarity Act

Bartiromo also asked Selig about prediction markets, where Kalshi and Polymarket processed a combined $24 billion in volume over the past year.

Selig said the CFTC has proposed rules for the sector and has sued nine states in a fight over jurisdiction. On markets during the U.S. strikes on Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, he said crypto held its ground and served as a hedge, while the agency worked to keep oil and derivatives markets orderly.

For now, the Clarity Act’s fate rests on released text, a Senate vote, and a calendar that leaves a few weeks before the August recess.

This post CFTC Chair Says Clarity Act Is ‘So Close’ As August Deadline Nears first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Trump-Backed American Bitcoin (ABTC) Sets Reverse Split for July 2

American Bitcoin Corp. (Nasdaq: ABTC), a Bitcoin accumulation platform focused on the buildout of America’s Bitcoin infrastructure backbone, has set the effective time of its 1-for-15 reverse stock split for 5:00 p.m. on July 2, 2026. 

The board fixed the ratio after shareholders granted their approval at the company’s 2026 annual meeting on June 22.

The common stock will begin trade on a reverse split-adjusted basis on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the same symbol, ABTC, at the market open on July 6.

What this means is that every 15 issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock will reclassify into one share of Class A common stock, and every 15 issued and outstanding shares of Class B common stock will reclassify into one share of Class B common stock, each subject to adjustment for fractional shares.

The company has no Class C common stock outstanding. The step reduces the share count from 1,092,295,800 shares — 360,070,897 of Class A, 732,224,903 of Class B, and no Class C — to close to 73 million shares, a figure that comprises some 24 million shares of Class A, some 49 million shares of Class B, and no Class C. 

The reverse split leaves the number of authorized shares and the par value of each class unchanged, according to the company.

Participation at the June 22 meeting reached a high level, with close to 93.56% of voting shares represented, the company said.

Two other measures passed at the same session: Asher Genoot joined the board as a Class I director, and KPMG LLP gained ratification as the company’s auditor for the fiscal year that ends December 31, 2026.

American Bitcoin’s background

American Bitcoin traces its roots to American Data Centers, the venture rebranded in March 2025 when Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. joined mining infrastructure firm Hut 8 to launch the company. 

Hut 8 contributed mining assets for an eighty percent stake, while the Trump family and American Data Centers shareholders held the rest. Eric Trump serves as co-founder and chief strategy officer.

Rather than pursue a traditional IPO, the company merged with Gryphon Digital Mining and used its Nasdaq listing as a vehicle. 

American Bitcoin began trading in September 2025 as a pure-play miner and Bitcoin treasury platform. The reserve has since climbed past 6,000 BTC, though the shares have seen sharp swings amid crypto volatility.

This post Trump-Backed American Bitcoin (ABTC) Sets Reverse Split for July 2 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.