Clarity Act likely misses August 7 deadline as Senate heads for break

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[1] Clarity Act expected to miss its window before Congress' summer break, leadership says (https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/07/23/cl ...)[2] North County (https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/location ...)[3] Trump's 'patience is running out' with John Thune, White House says (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump ...)[4] Trump's patience 'running out' as Thune fires back over stalled election security bill (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump ...)

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Jul 23 2026, 22:43

Marathon tests 280 kW landfill gas pilot for Bitcoin mining in Utah

**Marathon Digital is testing whether waste methane from a Utah landfill can power Bitcoin mining at a fraction of typical energy costs.** Marathon Digital launched a 280 kW Bitcoin mining pilot in Utah powered entirely by captured landfill methane gas, the company said July 23. "Landfill methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and this pilot shows Bitcoin mining can turn an environmental liability into a low-cost power source," Fred Thiel, chief executive officer of Marathon Digital, said. The 0.28 MW facility, built with Nodal Power, operates off-grid and reported 92% uptime with power costs of roughly $0.03 per kWh, according to Marathon's announcement. That compares with average industrial electricity rates of about $0.08 per kWh in the U.S. If the model scales, it could reduce regulatory pressure on miners and open a new revenue stream for landfill operators, though the project remains too small to meaningfully shift Marathon's overall energy footprint. **Why landfill gas matters for Bitcoin mining** Methane is roughly 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas over a 20-year period, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Landfills are the third-largest source of human-caused methane emissions in the U.S. Capturing that gas and using it for electricity generation avoids venting or flaring, which means Bitcoin mining at these sites can claim a net environmental benefit. Marathon's pilot is small — most industrial mining sites run at tens or hundreds of megawatts — but the economics are worth watching. At $0.03 per kWh, the facility's power cost is roughly 60% below the U.S. industrial average. If those costs hold across multiple sites, landfill gas mining could become a profitable niche for operators looking to lower their energy bills while strengthening their environmental positioning. **The bigger shift: miners as energy operators** The pilot reflects a broader trend of Bitcoin miners evolving into energy infrastructure operators. Marathon holds over 4 GW of energy capacity across its sites, Thiel said in a recent interview, and the company is evaluating which facilities to convert to AI data centers — a business that generates higher revenue per unit of electricity than mining. For now, Marathon continues to mine Bitcoin at those sites while the infrastructure is transitioned. The Utah pilot adds a third option: using stranded or waste energy sources that would otherwise go unused. The challenge is scale. One 280 kW pilot does not transform Bitcoin mining's environmental record, and Marathon has not disclosed how much methane the facility captures or what emissions it avoids. Credible measurement of those metrics will be necessary if miners want credit for emissions reduction. Still, the project gives the industry a concrete example of how mining can monetize waste energy — a narrative that may prove useful as political and environmental scrutiny of the sector continues. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.

Jul 23 2026, 22:37

Trump imposes 12.5% tariffs on 60 nations as 10% levies expire

**The Trump administration replaced expiring 10% global tariffs with permanent duties of as much as 12.5% on 60 trading partners, citing forced-labor enforcement gaps across 99.4% of US imports.** The White House imposed duties of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners at 12:01 a.m. Friday, replacing temporary 10% global levies that expired at the same moment. The new Section 301 tariffs cover 99.4% of US imports and are the administration's latest effort to restore near-global tariff coverage after the Supreme Court struck down Trump's earlier IEEPA-based duties in February. "The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it's well past time for our trading partners to do the same," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. The 12.5% rate applies to China, Australia and Egypt, while the European Union, Mexico and Indonesia face a 10% rate. India's rate was cut to 10% from an initially proposed 12.5% after the White House cited "positive steps" on forced-labor enforcement. Goods already subject to Section 232 national security tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and copper are exempt, as are USMCA-compliant products and commodities including oil, natural gas and fertilizer. The timing reflects a legal constraint. Trump imposed the 10% global tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 after the Supreme Court's February ruling, but that authority carried a 150-day limit that lapsed at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The new duties, authorized under Section 301 of the same law, have no such expiration. A senior administration official described the action as "the most sweeping international labor rights action the United States has ever taken" and said the timing was chosen "to avoid complexity" for businesses. The International Labor Organization estimates 27.6 million people were in forced labor worldwide on any given day in 2021, according to the UN agency's latest data. Human rights advocates offered cautious support for the tariffs while warning that enforcement would determine their effectiveness. "It's possible to be extremely critical of tariffs, as we are, and to be very concerned about blanket tariffs used as bludgeons against countries," said Martina Vandenberg, founder and president of The Human Trafficking Legal Center. "And yet I think it's undeniable that there is a significant response in terms of the adoption of import bans." Bitcoin fell below $65,000 after the announcement, reflecting a broader risk-off shift as investors priced in renewed trade uncertainty. The Yale Budget Lab estimates the US effective tariff rate at 11.8% across the economy, with the new duties expected to add one to two percentage points. **Further escalation ahead** The administration has signaled additional tariffs are likely. A separate Section 301 investigation into excess structural capacity — targeting China, the EU and 16 other trading partners that account for 70% of US imports — remains ongoing and is expected to conclude in the coming months. Simon MacAdam of Capital Economics predicted those tariffs would "serve as top-up tariffs to return overall US tariff levels to those in place" before the Supreme Court's February ruling. The previous escalation under IEEPA in 2025 imposed duties of 10% to 50% on imports from nearly every country, before the Supreme Court ruled that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize tariffs. That decision forced the administration to pay refunds to importers who had paid the duties. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.

Jul 23 2026, 22:30

Gemini sends $10M in Bitcoin to Trump PAC after CFTC reversal bid

**The Winklevoss twins' Gemini Trust sent $10 million in Bitcoin to a pro-Trump super PAC three weeks after the CFTC moved to reverse a $5 million settlement with the exchange.** Gemini Trust Co. contributed $10 million in Bitcoin to MAGA Inc., a super political action committee supporting President Donald Trump, on June 19, according to the PAC's July filing with the Federal Election Commission. The donation came in two separate tranches of more than $5 million each in Bitcoin. The contribution followed a joint motion filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Gemini in May in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking to reverse a January 2025 settlement in which Gemini agreed to pay $5 million for allegedly making false or misleading statements to the regulator. CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the agency under former President Joe Biden "politically targeted" the Winklevoss brothers through enforcement actions, according to a statement at the time. "The joint motion for reversal and other factors are concerning signs of a CFTC beholden to political pressures and interests of the wealthy insiders, unbound by the rule of law and failing to protect investors and market integrity," Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote in a June letter to Selig. The court has not yet posted a decision on the joint motion to the public docket. The $10 million Bitcoin donation is the latest in a series of political contributions from the Winklevoss twins, who each gave $1 million to Trump's 2024 campaign and later contributed $21 million in Bitcoin to the Digital Freedom Fund PAC to "support President Trump and his administration's efforts" on crypto policy. They also attended the signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin payments bill, after Trump took office in January 2025, and backed his sons' crypto mining venture American Bitcoin. **CFTC leadership vacuum adds uncertainty to crypto oversight** Selig, a Republican confirmed by the Senate in December 2025, remains the sole CFTC commissioner in what is typically a bipartisan group of five. The White House has not announced any additional nominations, leaving Selig to direct the agency's agenda alone as Congress considers the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would grant the CFTC significant authority over digital asset regulation. MAGA Inc. reported receiving more than $397 million in total contributions as of June 30. A CFTC spokesperson told Cointelegraph in June that both sides "agreed that the $5 million penalty will not be returned to Gemini" if the court grants the reversal. The convergence of political donations, a pending settlement reversal, and an understaffed regulator raises questions about the independence of crypto enforcement under the current administration. With the CLARITY Act potentially expanding the CFTC's jurisdiction over digital assets, the agency's leadership structure and its handling of the Gemini case could set a precedent for how prior crypto enforcement actions are treated going forward. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.