Trump dismisses AI extinction warnings and says beating China is the priority as researchers and lawmakers call for stronger safeguards on advanced systems.
The post Trump on AI Extinction: Beating China Is the Bigger Concern appeared first on TechRepublic.
Trump dismisses AI extinction warnings and says beating China is the priority as researchers and lawmakers call for stronger safeguards on advanced systems.
The post Trump on AI Extinction: Beating China Is the Bigger Concern appeared first on TechRepublic.
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:
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 10, 2026An 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 itpic.twitter.com/uYntehREqI
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.
ABC's Jimmy Kimmel said he will be interviewing a Democratic candidate for Senate tonight, but the interview will be on YouTube only and not broadcast on TV because of threats made by the Federal Communications Commission.
Kimmel has been a prime target in the Trump FCC's attacks on ABC and its owner, Disney. In his monologue last night, Kimmel said he'll be interviewing Democrat James Talarico, a state representative who is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for a seat in the US Senate.
In previous years, such an interview would have aired on the broadcast show via local stations throughout the country, Kimmel said. This time, it will only be on the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel in order to prevent further trouble for individual stations that hold FCC licenses, he said.
© Getty Images | Disney
Bitcoin Magazine
Bitcoin Suffers On Renewed US-Iran Fighting
Bitcoin’s price slid on Thursday after the price of oil shot over $105 a barrel thanks to renewed tensions in the Middle East.
The biggest and oldest cryptocurrency was recently trading for $77,208 after sliding as low as $76,748 — down more than 2% over the past day.
Its dip came after Iran signaled that it had no intention of backing down against U.S. forces. The two countries earlier this week stepped up attacks in some of the heaviest fighting since the war started in February.
Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen this week hit Saudi Arabian assets, also pushing the price of oil up.
War in the Middle East pushes oil prices higher and makes the chances of interest rate cuts lower because of inflation. Bitcoin has typically performed well in a low interest rate environment and has experienced sell-offs when the Federal Reserve pivots to hawkishness.
The U.S. is currently in the grips of an affordability crisis and rising oil prices are a hot topic ahead of the midterm elections. U.S. President Donald Trump has reassured voters that prices will get under control.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said at his first speech as leader of the central bank and said that inflation in the world’s largest economy had not come down enough.
Traders are now pricing in an interest rate hike next week when the bank meets.
Still, bitcoin had one of its best runs in August after the U.S. Treasury said it would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations, in response to surging borrowing costs.
The announcement hurt the dollar but non-yielding assets like bitcoin and gold have benefited.
Despite previously trading in line with risk-on assets like tech stocks, bitcoin has this year traded more in tandem with gold as the so-called debasement trade becomes hot again.
Investors have bought the largest cryptocurrency — along with the precious metal — to hedge against the dollar’s decline.
This post Bitcoin Suffers On Renewed US-Iran Fighting first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
The United States has now named six Chinese AI firms accused of waging industrial-scale attacks distilling US frontier AI model capabilities and perhaps sparing billions in Chinese development costs.
In a joint release Tuesday, the National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleged that DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI have been attacking US models since at least late 2024. The firms “likely” acted with “Chinese government awareness” when extracting capabilities from US models, including variants of Claude, GPT, Gemini, and Grok, agencies said.
“China-based AI companies that conduct industrial-scale distillation against US AI models see significantly shorter AI development timelines and reduced financial expenditures in training a frontier model,” agencies said.
© Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg
Bitcoin Magazine
Lummis Blasts Democrats Ahead of Clarity Act Vote — But Adds Bill Can Get Passed
Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has again slammed Democrats over the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act.
Writing on X on Tuesday, the pro-crypto lawmaker responded to an article from Semafor that reported Republican senators saying the bill was likely to fail when the senate returns next week.
Lawmakers were hoping a crucial vote on the long-awaited crypto market structure bill would go ahead in August before their five-week recess. But it was delayed and the Senate will now vote on it next week.
JUST IN:
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 8, 2026
Senator Cynthia Lummis says if they fail to pass it next week, "we will not get another realistic shot at this before the end of the decade"
Pass itpic.twitter.com/BIejUDw0Tu
“If this bill fails it won’t be because of ethics, it will be because Democrats didn’t join Republicans in embracing a bipartisan bill that protected consumers, cements America’s leadership in digital assets, and empowered law enforcement to clamp down on illicit finance,” wrote Lummis.
She said that Democrats were continuing to “demand changes” that could allow future regulators to “kill the crypto industry.”
“If we can bridge those gaps I’m confident we can pass Clarity, but they require further compromise from Democrats, not the White House,” added Lummis.
Lummis previously said that if the Clarity Act dies, it will be because of the Democrats. Lummis and other pro-crypto lawmakers have blasted politicians who they think are deliberately holding back the bill.
The Clarity Act drafts a framework to formally divide oversight between regulators, distinguishing which digital assets are securities, commodities or stablecoins.
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 wanted amendments.
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 Lummis Blasts Democrats Ahead of Clarity Act Vote — But Adds Bill Can Get Passed first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
An anti-immigration-themed adaptation of Tetris was removed from the White House website over the weekend. The move comes days after The Tetris Company disavowed any involvement with the game and said that it "take[s] copyright infringement very seriously."
The White House's "Build the Wall" game asked players to stop a "Zombie Border siege" by stacking Tetris-styled bricks in an attempt to "hold the line." Unlike in Tetris, though, the blocks in "Build the Wall" don't disappear when you complete a line, meaning each brick contributes to an impassable barrier for the pixel-art "zombies" marching in from the "Southern Border." That change makes the gameplay pretty uninteresting for anything but cheap propaganda, and it also means that every game quickly and ironically ends with a "Border Breached" message when the blocks inevitably fill up the well.
Amerika Garcia Grewal, co-director of Texas migrant rights group Frontera Federation, told AFP last week that the makers of the game "have lost touch with what it means to be human and care for others."
© WhiteHouse.gov / Internet Archive
© The Associated Press
Bitcoin Magazine
National Sheriffs’ Association Drops Opposition to Clarity Act
The National Sheriffs’ Association this week dropped its opposition to the crypto Clarity Act, after having previously warned that the proposed bill could help criminals.
Writing Thursday to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the association said it was changing its stance to neutral given how complex the issue is.
A number of lawmakers were hoping to vote on the Clarity Act in August. After a delay, a vote will now go ahead this month. The bill will establish a framework for distinguishing between digital assets that are securities, commodities or payment stablecoins — legislation that the crypto industry has long called for.
“Given the complexity of the legislation and the number of important details that remain under consideration, the NSA is changing its position on the Clarity Act to neutral,” the letter from NSA President Sheriff Troy Wellman and Executive Director Justin Smith read.
JUST IN: Major U.S. law enforcement organization National Sheriffs’ Association no longer opposes The Clarity Act
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 4, 2026
“We believe the most appropriate course is to step back and allow the legislative process to proceed to establish a…much needed regulatory framework.”
“At this time, we believe the most appropriate course is to step back and allow the legislative process to proceed to establish a clear, effective, and much needed regulatory framework.”
The NSA had previously warned that the bill could create regulatory and anti-money laundering loopholes by exempting certain crypto developers and infrastructure providers from money transmitter rules.
Despite being passed in the house of representatives last year with strong bipartisan support, the Clarity Act has been in a deadlock for much of 2026. The banking lobby raised concerns over stablecoin yield and some lawmakers have said improvements need to be made surrounding ethics.
An updated bill of the Clarity Act was introduced in July that addressed some of these concerns — banning government officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto.
Pro-crypto senator Cynthia Lummis wrote on Friday that the “bipartisan bill” gives “law enforcement real tools to fight the illicit finance crimes hurting hard working Americans.”
Major financial institutions, lawmakers and companies have said they support the latest draft of the new bill, but some Republicans have accused Democratic lawmakers of deliberately playing politics and holding the bill back.
This post National Sheriffs’ Association Drops Opposition to Clarity Act first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
Bitcoin Magazine
French Hill Eyes Bipartisan Path for Clarity Act Ahead of September Vote
U.S. congressman French Hill expressed the importance of bipartisan support to get the long-awaited crypto market structure bill, the Clarity Act, over the line before the midterms.
The lawmaker told Fox Business Thursday that Democrats and Republicans have come to “narrow their differences in getting the bill drafted.
Pro-crypto lawmakers were hoping the Clarity Act passed before Congress departed for August recess. After a delay, a vote will now go ahead on September 15.
WATCH: Chairman @RepFrenchHill on the importance of passing the Clarity Act:
— Financial Services GOP (@FinancialCmte) September 3, 2026
"…we passed the CLARITY Act in the House last summer with 78 Democratic votes. It is time for the Senate to join us and pass the CLARITY Act. Members on both sides of the aisle in the Senate have… pic.twitter.com/GMva1XOTDK
“Can Democrats work with Republicans and make sure America leads the world in distributed ledger technology and financial services?” Hill said.
“This one remaining significant issue is the ethics provision, and that is best solved by passing the legislation because everybody — no matter what family they belong to, the Trumps or not — would then be under a regulatory framework fully scrutinized by the United States government in commodity and securities and banking regulators,” he added.
The Clarity Act was first introduced by Hill, the House Financial Services Chairman, last year.
Crypto companies have long called for clear regulations for the industry. The Clarity Act drafts a framework to formally divide oversight between regulators, distinguishing which digital assets are securities, commodities or stablecoins.
The House of Representatives passed the bill last July but 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. It bans government officials from promoting or making money from crypto — something Democrats have criticized the Trump family for doing.
A group of Democrats said the bill fell short and wanted amendments. Some were accused of deliberately holding it back by Republicans like Cynthia Lummis.
Some have praised the bipartisan work that has already gone into the bill, namely Coinbase, America’s biggest crypto exchange. The company’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, said in July that while some Democratic lawmakers were holding back the long-awaited legislation, younger Democrats wanted to pass it.
President Donald Trump in August said that in order for the U.S. to remain the “undisputed leader in Bitcoin and crypto,” lawmakers had to pass the “very, very powerful legislation.”
This post French Hill Eyes Bipartisan Path for Clarity Act Ahead of September Vote first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday the United States has “virtually unlimited amounts of Mid to High Grade Ammunition” and is manufacturing munitions “at levels never seen before,” pushing back against months of reporting that the war with Iran has strained U.S. weapons stockpiles. Trump made the claims in a Truth Social post published at 7:56 […]
Bitcoin Magazine
‘Crypto Capital of the World’: SEC Chair Expects Clarity Act to Pass This Month
Wall Street’s top regulator has said that he expects the long-awaited Clarity Act will get passed this month and the U.S. will be on track to be the “crypto capital of the world.”
Speaking to Fox Business on Tuesday, Securities and Exchange Chairman Paul Atkins confirmed that the regulator was pushing ahead with rules to help the crypto industry.
Pro-crypto lawmakers had hoped to pass the Clarity Act before Congress broke for August recess, but the vote slipped to September. The bill will establish a framework for distinguishing between digital assets that are securities, commodities or stablecoins.
JUST IN:
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 2, 2026
pic.twitter.com/lcHtWcslgO
“The Clarity Act will be voted on in the Senate on the 15th of September,” Atkins said. “I anticipate and hope that it will be passed by the Senate and sent ultimately to the President’s desk for a signature.”
He added: “We’re changing the past approaches to try to update [rules], modernize them in the age of blockchain and crypto assets.”
Despite a vote on the Clarity Act being delayed, regulators like the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have said they will still proceed with trying to shape crypto policy.
Last week, the SEC sent a proposal to the White House aiming to “clarify the framework for the custody of crypto assets” for investment advisers and companies.
Despite being passed by the House of Representatives last year, the Clarity Act has been in a deadlock for most of this year after the banking lobby clashed with lawmakers and crypto businesses over whether platforms like Coinbase should be able to pay customers yield.
Some lawmakers have sought to change wording in the bill regarding ethics, and a new bill started circulating in July. The draft bans government officials from promoting and making money from crypto.
But other Democratic lawmakers said it still fell short; a number of pro-crypto Republicans accused Democrats of deliberately playing politics and delaying the bill.
This post ‘Crypto Capital of the World’: SEC Chair Expects Clarity Act to Pass This Month first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
Four federal agencies have been sued amid calls to release information about the secret framework that the Trump administration uses to conduct safety reviews of frontier AI models prior to release.
In a Wednesday press release announcing the lawsuit, a nonpartisan nonprofit called Protect Democracy alleged that “almost no details” have been released to the public or Congress. To everyone except a few vague “trusted partners,” it remains unclear what the government’s review process looks like, which companies are involved in constructing the framework, or what legal authority Trump officials have to conduct the reviews.
“Neither the identities of those entities nor the criteria by which they were selected have been made public,” Protect Democracy said.
© Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg
Bitcoin Magazine
Bitcoin Slides as US-Iran Tensions Escalate
Bitcoin slid on Tuesday after investors went into “risk-off” mode following escalating attacks between the U.S. and Iran.
The largest cryptocurrency had initially shrugged off President Donald Trump’s threats to the Middle Eastern nation, as well as the first strikes.
But things heated up on Tuesday, and bitcoin’s price slid. It was recently down more than 2% on the day, trading for $77,363. The coin had pushed past as high as nearly $81,282 on Friday.
The Tuesday attacks from the U.S. were because Iran tried to put mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and also because of an attack on an American military base in Jordan, according to President Trump.
U.S. Central Command said on X that Iran had also attacked commercial ships.
Today at 12 p.m. ET, U.S. forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran. The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 1, 2026
“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” the post read.
Iran responded with a “decisive operation” against U.S. military bases, according to Iranian media. Oil surged on the news.
Bitcoin’s price has been sensitive to geopolitical tensions this year — especially after Iran and Israel attacked Iran. The cryptocurrency has typically faced downward pressure on news of war, only to then rally when Trump raised hopes of a ceasefire.
Despite Bitcoin’s price being relatively muted, in recent months, it has made more wild swings since mid-August.
Bitcoin’s immediate reaction to rising oil prices is to drop: more expensive energy means higher inflation, and higher inflation typically means the U.S. central bank will postpone rate cuts, which can restrict the liquidity that bitcoin needs to gain momentum.
The Federal Reserve’s chair, Kevin Warsh, last week gave his first major speech as leader of the central bank and said that inflation in the world’s largest economy had not come down enough.
Traders are now no longer pricing in an interest rate cut this year, instead expecting a hike. Bitcoin has typically performed well in the past in low interest rate environments.
Still, the coin had one of its best runs in August after the U.S. Treasury said it would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations, in response to surging borrowing costs.
The announcement hurt the dollar but non-yielding assets like bitcoin and gold have benefited.
This post Bitcoin Slides as US-Iran Tensions Escalate first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
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