Bitcoin Magazine

Updated Crypto Clarity Act Starts Circulating Days Before Key Vote 

A new draft of the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act has dropped with amendments.

As first reported by Eleanor Terrett from Crypto in America and Punchbowl’s Brendan Pedersen, the updated bill contains changes including requiring non-decentralized DeFi protocols to register with the CFTC, and changes around how credit unions deal in crypto, according to reporters. 

The specifics include that a decentralized finance app fails the test of being such a protocol test if someone can control or materially alter its functionality, if it doesn’t run solely on pre-established transparent encoded rules, or if someone can restrict or censor its use.

It also adds that a federal credit union may use a digital asset or distributed ledger system to perform, provide, or deliver any activity, function, product, or service it is otherwise authorized by law to perform.

JUST IN: An updated version of the Clarity Act has released ahead of next week's floor vote

"Latest changes include new DeFi requirements and credit union fix" — Punchbowl News

Pass it pic.twitter.com/uYntehREqI

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 10, 2026

Lawmakers were hoping a crucial vote on the crypto market structure bill would go ahead in August before their five-week recess. It was delayed and the Senate will now vote on it on September 15. 

The bill is not bipartisan yet, according to the reporters. Senate Republicans started circulating the updated legislation on Thursday. 

The Clarity Act drafts a framework to formally divide oversight between regulators, distinguishing which digital assets are securities, commodities or stablecoins. Crypto industry executives have long called for such rules to be in place. 

Though passed by the House of Representatives last July, it has been stalled this year, mostly because the banking lobby clashed with crypto companies over paying customers stablecoin yield. 

A new draft tackling the issue of ethics started circulating in July, banning government officials from promoting or making money from crypto — something Democrats have criticized the Trump family for doing. 

Despite the changes, a group of Democrats said the bill fell short and demanded amendments to the bill. 

Pro-crypto lawmakers have blasted Democratic politicians who they think are deliberately holding back the bill.  

President Donald Trump has urged lawmakers to get the legislation over the line. In August, he said that in order for the U.S. to remain the “undisputed leader in Bitcoin and crypto,” they had to pass the “very, very powerful legislation.”

This post Updated Crypto Clarity Act Starts Circulating Days Before Key Vote  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

TON Foundation says Telegram Web3 mini-apps have passed 100 million monthly active users, marking another major distribution milestone for one of crypto’s most consumer-facing ecosystems.

That number is big enough to grab attention, but it needs a careful read.

Monthly active users in Telegram mini-apps can include off-chain bot interactions, app sessions, and wallet-adjacent activity. It should not be treated as the same thing as 100 million on-chain TON wallets all making direct transactions.

Still, even with that caveat, the scale is impressive.

TON has something most crypto networks badly want: access to a massive messaging platform where users already spend time.

For more details, visit the official Ton platform.

TL;DR

• TON-linked Telegram mini-apps have passed 100 million monthly active users.
• The figure includes Telegram mini-app activity, not only on-chain wallet transactions.
• TON Space and Telegram-based onboarding remain central to the ecosystem’s growth story.

Why Telegram Distribution Matters

Crypto adoption usually struggles with distribution.

Projects build wallets, exchanges, apps, games, and payment systems, then spend huge amounts trying to attract users. TON starts from a different place because it is closely tied to the Telegram environment.

That does not guarantee adoption.

But it gives TON a user funnel most chains do not have. If people can discover mini-apps inside a messaging app they already use, onboarding feels less alien than downloading a new wallet and learning a new ecosystem from scratch.

That is a real advantage.

Mini-Apps Are Not Just Wallets

The mini-app category is broad.

Some apps may involve games, rewards, bots, payments, trading, social features, or wallet interactions. That means the 100 million MAU number is not a pure measure of on-chain financial activity.

And that is fine, as long as it is explained clearly.

The point is that Telegram-based Web3 apps are reaching a large user base. The next question is how much of that activity converts into durable wallet usage, transactions, payments, and application revenue.

TON Space Helps The Wallet Story

TON Space gives the ecosystem a self-custody wallet route inside Telegram.

That matters because mini-app engagement becomes much more powerful if users can move from playing, earning, or interacting into actual wallet activity without leaving the environment. The smoother that step is, the stronger TON’s consumer crypto case becomes.

Most chains have to build consumer distribution from scratch.

TON can build inside a platform where communication and app discovery already happen.

Bot Activity Needs A Caveat

The source materials note that MAU counts include off-chain Telegram bot interactions alongside direct on-chain wallet transfers.

That caveat should not be buried.

Bot-driven ecosystems can produce huge engagement numbers, but not every interaction has the same economic value. A user clicking inside a mini-app is different from a user holding assets, making payments, or interacting with DeFi.

The quality of activity matters.

Still, engagement is the first step. Without users, none of the deeper metrics can follow.

The TON Market View

TON’s 100 million MAU milestone shows why the network remains one of the most interesting consumer crypto plays.

The number is not a clean on-chain wallet count, and it should not be treated like one. But it does show that Telegram mini-apps are operating at a scale most crypto products never reach.

Now the real test begins.

Can TON convert attention into lasting wallet adoption, useful payments, real transaction volume, and sustainable apps?

That is the question. But reaching 100 million monthly active mini-app users gives the ecosystem a serious platform to work from.

This article draws on TON Foundation materials and Tonstat ecosystem data.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

This report is based on information released by Ton. at Ton

TAC, a Cosmos-based EVM sidechain connected to the TON ecosystem, has halted block production after a supply-related exploit.

The incident occurred on August 22, according to public incident materials. TAC connects Ethereum-based applications with the TON network, but the exploit affected the TAC sidechain and its token supply, not the main TON blockchain.

That distinction is critical.

The TON mainnet should not be described as halted or compromised based on this incident. The affected network is TAC, an EVM sidechain connected to TON.

TL;DR

• TAC halted block production after a supply exploit.
• The incident affected the TAC sidechain and its token supply.
• TON mainnet was not the halted network.

Exploit Details

TAC halted block production after identifying a security exploit tied to token supply.

A halt is a serious operational step. It means the network stopped producing blocks while the team investigated or contained the issue. For users, that can affect transfers, applications, liquidity, and confidence until operations resume.

The key point is scope.

This was not a halt of TON mainnet. It was a halt of the TAC sidechain, which is designed to connect EVM applications with TON-related infrastructure.

Scope matters because crypto incidents are often misreported when networks are interconnected.

Why EVM Sidechains Carry Different Risks

Sidechains can expand an ecosystem’s functionality.

They may bring Ethereum-compatible applications, tooling, wallets, and smart contract patterns to networks that do not natively operate like Ethereum. That can be useful for developer adoption.

But sidechains also create additional risk surfaces.

They have their own validators, contracts, bridges, token mechanics, and governance. A problem on a sidechain may not compromise the base network, but it can still affect users who rely on that sidechain.

TAC’s halt shows why those distinctions matter.

Supply Exploits Are Serious

A supply exploit can be especially dangerous because it affects trust in the token’s accounting.

If an attacker can mint, inflate, duplicate, or manipulate supply, the economic integrity of the network is at risk. Teams may halt block production to prevent further damage while investigating.

That can be the responsible move, but it is disruptive.

Users need clear communication about what assets are affected, whether balances are safe, whether transactions will be rolled back, and how the network plans to restart.

TON Connection Needs Careful Framing

The TON connection is part of the story, but it should not be exaggerated.

TAC’s purpose is to connect EVM applications with TON. That makes the incident relevant to the broader TON ecosystem. But relevance is not the same as direct impact on TON’s base chain.

The clean framing is: TAC is connected to TON, but TAC is the network that halted.

That protects readers from assuming TON itself stopped.

What Comes Next

The next questions are operational.

When will TAC resume block production? What caused the supply exploit? Will balances be adjusted? Will contracts be patched? Will bridges or related applications need action from users?

Until those questions are answered, caution is warranted.

For the wider ecosystem, the incident is another reminder that sidechain infrastructure can introduce risk even when the base network remains unaffected.

TAC’s halt is serious. It just needs to be understood at the correct layer.

This article is based on TAC-related incident materials and public reporting on the August 22 sidechain halt.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

This report is based on information released in disclosures at primary source documentation.

The TON Foundation has confirmed that its legacy bridge will be permanently decommissioned on September 1, setting a deadline for users holding wrapped TON and related bridge assets to move back to native forms.

The shutdown affects bridge-v3.ton.org, according to TON materials. Users holding Wrapped TON as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum or BNB Chain, or j-tokens such as jUSDT on TON, need to bridge assets back before the deadline to avoid losing access.

This is a planned infrastructure transition.

It should not be described as an exploit, emergency shutdown, or security failure unless official sources say otherwise.

TL;DR

• TON’s legacy bridge will be decommissioned on September 1.
• Wrapped TON and j-token users need to bridge assets back before the deadline.
• The shutdown is planned and should not be framed as a hack.

Why Bridge Shutdowns Matter

Bridges are one of the most sensitive pieces of crypto infrastructure.

They connect assets across chains, but they also create operational risk. If a bridge is deprecated or shut down, users need clear instructions and enough time to move funds.

A missed deadline can be costly.

Tokens that depend on a bridge may become hard to redeem or move if users do not act before decommissioning. That is why bridge shutdown notices matter even when nothing has been hacked.

They are practical user-risk events.

Wrapped Assets Need Special Attention

Wrapped TON on Ethereum or BNB Chain is not the same as native TON.

A wrapped token usually depends on bridge infrastructure that locks or accounts for the native asset while issuing a representation on another chain. If that bridge is being retired, users need to unwind the wrapped position through the proper route.

The same logic applies to j-tokens on TON.

Users should follow official instructions, use the correct bridge interface, and avoid unofficial links or phishing attempts. Bridge transition periods often attract scammers because users are already expecting to move assets.

Planned Does Not Mean Unimportant

A planned shutdown can still create risk.

The risk is not necessarily technical failure. It is user coordination. Some holders may not see the announcement. Some may wait too long. Some may use the wrong interface. Some may misunderstand which assets are affected.

That is why the September 1 deadline is important.

TON’s ecosystem needs users to act before the legacy infrastructure is retired.

Why Networks Retire Bridges

Protocols may shut down old bridges for many reasons.

A bridge may be replaced by newer infrastructure, become expensive to maintain, no longer fit the ecosystem roadmap, or carry legacy risk the foundation no longer wants to support. Retiring old infrastructure can be healthy if the process is communicated clearly.

The key is migration.

Users need enough time and simple instructions to move assets safely.

What Comes Next

The next milestone is the September 1 deadline.

Until then, wrapped TON and j-token holders should confirm whether they are affected and use official TON channels to bridge assets back. After the deadline, access may become limited or impossible through the legacy route.

For TON, the shutdown is part of infrastructure cleanup.

For users, it is a deadline that should not be ignored.

This article is based on TON Foundation materials regarding the legacy bridge decommissioning.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

This report is based on information released in disclosures at primary source documentation.

TON validators have been instructed to update their node software and mytonctrl tooling ahead of a configuration vote tied to the network’s new collator architecture.

The validator preparation includes node commit 140320b and mytonctrl commit 7e90e26. The configuration switch vote was scheduled for August 21 at 08:00 UTC.

The important detail is status.

This is a preparation and voting-stage story. It should not be described as full collator activation if the vote and switch process have not completed.

Still, the update matters because collator architecture can affect how TON organizes block production and validator responsibilities as the network scales.

TL;DR

• TON validators were told to update node software and mytonctrl.
• The updates prepare for a collator-related configuration vote.
• The process should not be described as completed activation unless the vote has finalized.

Why Validator Updates Matter

Validator coordination is critical for any blockchain upgrade.

If validators do not update software correctly, networks can face delays, inconsistent behavior, missed blocks, or operational confusion. That is why upgrade instructions often include precise commit versions and deadlines.

TON’s validator update is part of that process.

The network needs participants to prepare their infrastructure before a configuration switch can move forward safely.

For users, this kind of work is mostly invisible — unless something goes wrong.

What Collators Do

Collators are generally tied to collecting transactions, preparing candidate blocks, or supporting block production workflows depending on the network design.

For TON, introducing or activating collator architecture is part of improving how the network handles scale and coordination. The technical details matter most to validators and infrastructure operators, but the user-facing goal is smoother network performance.

This is the kind of upgrade that can strengthen a chain’s underlying machinery.

It may not create an immediate retail-facing feature, but it can improve how the network operates under load.

Vote Status Needs Care

The vote timing is central.

Validators were preparing for a configuration vote, not necessarily announcing that the upgrade had already gone live. Crypto upgrade coverage often jumps too quickly from “vote scheduled” to “activation complete.”

That can mislead users and node operators.

The clean read is that TON’s validator set was being asked to update software and participate in a configuration decision connected to collator activation.

Final status depends on the vote and subsequent network execution.

TON’s Scaling Ambitions Remain Active

TON has positioned itself as a high-throughput blockchain with a large consumer-distribution opportunity, especially because of its connection to Telegram’s ecosystem.

That ambition requires strong infrastructure.

Large-scale consumer blockchain usage is not only about wallets and apps. It requires validators, nodes, transaction processing, developer tools, and upgrade coordination that can support heavy demand.

Collator architecture fits into that broader scaling effort.

What Comes Next

The next step is confirmation of the vote result and any completed configuration switch.

If validators approve and the transition proceeds smoothly, TON can point to another infrastructure milestone. If the vote is delayed or implementation requires more work, the upgrade remains in progress.

For now, the story is clear enough.

TON validators are preparing their software for a collator-related vote, and the network’s infrastructure roadmap is moving forward.

The market should watch the final activation status before treating the upgrade as complete.

This article is based on TON validator update materials and public upgrade notices.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

This report is based on information released in disclosures at primary source documentation.

Bitcoin Magazine

Chinese AI Beats Restricted OpenAI and Anthropic Cybersecurity Models, Bitcoin Industry Warns

Bitcoin company leaders and open-source developers are publicly stating that Chinese AI models are currently outperforming restricted American frontier systems in defensive cybersecurity work, forcing researchers to rely on them to secure critical Bitcoin infrastructure.

Rob Hamilton, CEO of AnchorWatch, a Bitcoin self-custody insurance company, reported cripling American AI restrictions. After integrating OpenAI’s trusted cyber program (having already completed KYC months earlier), he was blocked from further analysis on a codebase he had already responsibly disclosed. “It absolutely guts me as a patriotic American to have to do this, but I will be going back to using Chinese open source models to conduct my research to protect Bitcoin infrastructure,” Hamilton wrote. “Black hats will not hit these issues. The white hats will.” Days later, he gained access to OpenAI’s “Daybreak Blue” cyber model and was blocked again within 19 minutes while red-teaming Bitcoin infrastructure.

Francis Pouliot, founder of Bull Bitcoin, a Bitcoin-only exchange focused on self-custody infrastructure, described the situation bluntly. “I have never seen OpenAI this cucked. It’s cucked beyond belief now. Not even for security, for anything related to Bitcoin,” he posted. “USA AI industry is completely cooked if they don’t change this path,” he concluded, adding “Open-source Chinese LLMs. [orange heart emoji],” meaning that open Chinese models like Kimi K3 are actually helpful to Bitcoin. In a follow-up, Pouliot detailed how a Chinese open-source model identified a money-stealing exploit in a project he was auditing, demonstrated it on regtest, and helped patch it. When he asked the American models he pays for to review the same patch, they refused.

PortlandHODL, a Bitcoin Core contributor who builds for AnchorWatch, publicly highlighted the performance gap. “US-based Frontier AI Model – ‘You’re absolutely right!’ Chinese Open Model – ‘78 critical vulnerabilities found.’ The implications of this are unfathomable,” he posted. In a follow-up, he added that he felt he was “basically asking Xi to not get my software hacked at this point,” calling for OpenAI and Anthropic to create proper access programs for U.S. citizens doing defensive security work.

Alex Thorn, Head of Firmwide Research at Galaxy, signed a recent Bitcoin Policy Institute open letter demanding trusted access to frontier models for open-source defenders. “Americans should not have to rely on Chinese AI to defend themselves, their projects, companies, or clients from cyber-attacks,” he wrote. “RED TEAM NEEDS THE MODELS.”

On August 10, the Bitcoin Policy Institute — a Bitcoin and, of late, AI-focused policy think tank — published an open letter signed by more than 70 organizations across the digital-asset ecosystem, including major custodians, exchanges, mining firms, and open-source development groups. The letter calls on frontier AI labs to establish clear trusted-access programs for qualified open-source and digital-asset defenders. It argues that current restrictions and safety guardrails leave legitimate security researchers without access to the strongest models, forcing them to rely on less capable open-weight alternatives while sophisticated attackers face no such limits. The signatories request early access to cyber-capable models, sufficient compute, secure environments for reviewing code, and direct channels with lab security teams, stating that frontier AI could become one of the most powerful defensive technologies available if defenders are given fair access.

These statements reflect a broad pattern among Bitcoin security researchers: American models from OpenAI and Anthropic frequently refuse or restrict legitimate defensive work, even to users who are supposed to have been granted explicit access, while Chinese models such as Kimi K3 operate without the same guardrails and are delivering confirmed results. Concerns about hosting infrastructure of Chinese models being an attack vector can also be mitigated, since they are open source and can be run on American-hosted data centers, a trend that is likely to threaten the U.S. AI market if it continues.

Coldcard Exploit Triggers Ecosystem-Wide Response

The cybersecurity pressure became acute in the Bitcoin industry after a firmware flaw in Coldcard hardware wallets was exploited beginning July 30, resulting in the theft of well over $100 million in bitcoin from seeds generated with insufficient entropy. Bitcoin Magazine published an urgent advisory urging affected users to migrate funds: COLDCARD SECURITY RISK: IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED.

In response, a volunteer effort known as the Bitcoin Red Team formed, led by open-source developer Calle (creator of Cashu and the Android version of Bitchat) and Rob Hamilton. The group has conducted large-scale AI-assisted audits of Bitcoin open-source repositories, using models including Kimi K3 as the primary workhorse alongside limited access to Western systems. Early results, covered by Bitcoin Magazine, showed thousands of findings across hundreds of projects, including dozens of critical issues, with spending covered largely by OpenSats.

By August 8, after more than 100 hours of work involving dozens of contributors, the team reported scanning 501 projects and producing 7,958 findings, of which 1,280 were rated high or critical severity. The majority of compute spend continued to go to Chinese open-weight models.

Lessons from the Red Team Campaign

Most recently, Calle shared lessons from the intensive red-team period. The effort has essentially completed a basic scan of virtually the entire Bitcoin open-source landscape; low-hanging fruit is largely exhausted, the developer wrote on this X account. Maintainers across projects have validated many of the critical and high-severity reports, while response times from projects vary widely and serve as a signal of overall health.

Key takeaways include the need for every project to maintain its own permanent AI audit pipeline going forward. Projects that began such reviews months earlier are in a markedly stronger position. Unmaintained repositories should be treated as likely broken and unreliable. 

Calle also warned that the human-only era of open-source security review is over; verification is now effectively free, and information overload must be handled with AI rather than complaints about PR slop. Multiple concurrent and diverse human approaches remain the strongest method for finding vulnerabilities, and external red-teaming will likely be required indefinitely. 

Calle also repeatedly emphasized that developers should stop writing security-critical code in C. In a follow-up post he explained: “we’re finding memory-safety vulnerabilities in c projects that are prevented by default in many other languages. In the past, finding a simple buffer overflow wasn’t enough. You’d need a highly skilled hacker to turn the vulnerability into a working end-to-end exploit. Today, that’s a single prompt.”

Bitcoin was the first major open-source ecosystem to confront this collision between accumulated human code and frontier AI capability. The rest of the software world is expected to follow.

This post Chinese AI Beats Restricted OpenAI and Anthropic Cybersecurity Models, Bitcoin Industry Warns first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Red Team Finds 85 Critical Flaws Across 390 Open Source Repos After Coldcard Exploit

Rallied by the recent, catastrophic vulnerability in Coldcard hardware wallets, exploited to the tune of over $100 million, the Bitcoin community has rallied to prevent future critical bugs in the industry’s open source software.

PSA: Any users of Coldcard wallets that have not migrated their bitcoin to new seeds generated in secure firmware are still at risk. It may not be too late to act; see advisory on the matter. 

Led by Calle, software engineer, avid vibe coder and creator of the Android version of Bitchat, and Rob Hamilton, the CEO of Anchorwatch a Bitcoin self-custody insurance company, the Bitcoin Red Team has now secured funding, with over $40,000 spent in AI tokens to audit over 390 Open Source repositories across Bitcoin. 

Colloquially called the “Bitcoin Red Team”, with memes about Rob Hamilton and Calle now being the CEO and CTO of Bitcoin, this AI-driven security audit is having a serious impact across the industry. Just a few days ago, buried in the news of ongoing thefts of bitcoin from MK3+ Coldcards due to an RNG bug, Boltz exchange announced it would be pausing operations to catch up with AI-driven hacking attempts. 

“27.5 hours in, we’ve filed 4,962 findings across 390 projects. 85 critical and 635 high severity issues. We’re at 2.31 h+c findings per person per hour,” said Calle in the most recent update on Red Team efforts to shore up the industry’s cybersecurity.

The Red Team security review effort is using models like Kimi K3, GPT Sol, Fable, Opus and GLM5.2, some of the most expensive and cutting-edge models in the market. At first, access to OpenAI and Anthropic models was limited, leading to an over-reliance on Chinese open-source models, a fact which many in the industry lamented and saw as a bad omen for U.S. AI dominance. But as the Red Team project grew in influence since last week’s Coldcard hack, connections have been established and confirmed with OpenAI, giving Red Team access to GPT Sol. Hamilton’s mention of Fable in his August 4 tweet suggests access to Anthropic has also been established.

Expenses which were last tallied at over $40,000 have been covered by OpenSats, a non profit 501c3 organization dedicated to funding open source Bitcoin development projects. The Bitcoin Red Team does not currently have a website or a GitHub repository to link to, but the team is made up of many individuals within the Bitcoin industry. Individuals publicly thanked for their support include but are not limited to danielabrozzoni, lylepratt, stutxo, benthecarman, thesimplekid. 

Hamilton shared that a custom harness has been built and is evolving quickly. Made up at one point of 171,599 lines of code, the harness is designed to identify and test critical Bitcoin software libraries and high-load-bearing code, identify and document vulnerabilities, reproduce them and package the proven data into useful reports. Ultimately delivering the information responsibly to engineers in the industry. Hamilton also shared that Red Team intends to open source the harness such that Bitcoin companies can run it against their closed-source code. 

Red Team is actively reaching out to relevant open source projects with critical vulnerabilities discovered, leading to a broad sense of dread from engineers in the industry when they receive cold direct messages from Hamilton or Calle, as seen in various humorous screenshots shared on social media.

https://x.com/callebtc/status/2085035257477190080 

Among the key insights shared by Red Team publicly as this AI-driven security update of Bitcoin FOSS takes place, Hamilton shared that engineers with specific subject matter could sometimes yield high-value results from the Harness, which might otherwise “smell out something is wrong,” but might be missing niche context. An insight which speaks to the importance of having human intelligence and experience work hand in hand with the AI to efficiently identify critical vulnerabilities.

Hamilton also ended a multi-day Red Team effort after the Coldcard hack with some personal notes. He said that the discovered vulnerability in Coldcard random number generators and consequent exploitation of the bug by hackers had been a “spiritual attack” on Bitcoin and the self-custody ethos of the industry, “I mean that in the literal sense of the words”. After expressing grief for the losses experienced by many Bitcoiners during this now historic hack, Hamilton closed his tweet with a tone of hardened resolution:

“While things are not easy right now. I have the highest conviction ever in my life that the idea and technology of Bitcoin is worth fighting for. To that end. There is no Bitcoin without self-custody. This is non-negotiable.”

This post Bitcoin Red Team Finds 85 Critical Flaws Across 390 Open Source Repos After Coldcard Exploit first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.