TLDR: #Illinois 0.2% Tax

-Rate: 0.2%: on broker/business activity for IL customers. NOT on owning crypto. NOT on gains.
-Who collects it: exchanges, custodians, wallet/transfer providers ("brokers"). Out-of-state brokers pulled in at $100K IL receipts.
-Penalty: Class 3 felony for unregistered/noncompliant brokers (+ corpofficers/agents) — 2–5 yrs, up to $25K.
-Revenue: ~$60M/yr from crypto. Budget is $56B. → ~0.1% of the budget.
-First in the nation. No other state taxes digital assets this way.

I was honored to discuss the new Illinois Bitcoin Tax with Blockspace Media today... https://www.youtube.com/live/qSUAnjYH4Sg?t=1232s

I was honored to discuss the new Illinois Bitcoin Tax with Blockstream Media today...
https://www.youtube.com/live/qSUAnjYH4Sg?si=dQteJY7kTU8AEUCe&t=1232

Jeff Hilsenbeck & I had the honor to go on The Bitcoin Libertarian podcast. We discussed:

-ILLINOIS BITCOIN COUNCIL
-CHALLENGES ON BITCOIN ADVOCACY
-THE SLOW PATH TO ADOPTION

Check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g1aIiLpjxQ

In this episode, Nik Bhatia welcomes back Daniel Batten, bitcoin researcher and longtime voice on bitcoin's role in energy, for a conversation on the collision between AI, the power grid, and bitcoin mining. Daniel explains why AI data centers are the worst kind of load for a grid, how the rush of renewables made balancing supply and demand even harder, and why bitcoin mining has quietly become the flexible load that solves both problems at once. He walks through a Swedish operator running at a negative two cents per kilowatt hour, the 30 peer-reviewed papers behind the thesis, and the seven grid operators already using it. Nik and Daniel also discuss why bitcoin may solve an energy problem before the world realizes it solves a monetary one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlzpFwE7Wuk

Goodbye Gold Reserves, Hello ARMA... https://open.substack.com/pub/ilbtccouncil/p/goodbye-gold-reserves-hello-arma?r=806xk9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The Clarity Act matters. The BCRA (Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act) needs to stay in it, or the bill isn't worth passing. Call your Both of your Senators and make it plain:

• I'm a constituent
• The BCRA must remain in the Clarity Act
• This is my #1 legislative priority
• I am watching how you vote

Find your Senators here:

👉 https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Voicemails count. Calls count. Staff tally these. Make it happen.

https://coincenter.org/the-brca-survived-claritys-markup-do-not-give-it-up-now/

The Strike Zone Is a Conservation Law: What Baseball & Energy Reveal About #Bitcoin https://open.substack.com/pub/ilbtccouncil/p/the-strike-zone-is-a-conservation

Every legislator in Springfield runs the same math: how many of my constituents care about this?
Every Chamber of Commerce that books us asks the same question: how many of our members will show up?
Every merchant we onboard wants to know: is anyone actually going to spend sats here?

The answer to all three is the same. Membership. Help us by reaching out to your fellow #Bitcoin-ers…

illinoisbitcoincouncil.org/membership

"A Breakthrough": White House Says Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Announcement Is Imminent https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/breakthrough-white-house-says-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-announcement-imminent

Altcoins are Bitcoin's testnet. That's not a put-down; testnets are essential. But the function Bitcoin uniquely solves is the one that doesn't consolidate twice. New post on why IBC focuses on Bitcoin specifically... https://ilbtccouncil.substack.com/p/altcoins-are-a-testnet-for-bitcoin?r=806xk9