US digital asset tax policy on agenda during 'Crypto Week'
The United States House of Representatives has arranged a so-called 'Crypto Week' next week, in an attempt to add a sense of urgency to the snail-like pace of progress on much-needed digital asset legislation. Chief amongst the topics up for debate will be digital asset taxation.
House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Representative Jason Smith (R-MO), announced a July 16 oversight subcommittee hearing focusing on 'the affirmative steps needed to place a tax policy framework on digital assets.'
Taxation has been an active talking point of late, particularly in light of President Donald Trump's 'big beautiful' tax bill, which was signed into law on July 4. Amongst a range of controversial measures, the bill adds restrictions to Medicaid, cuts clean energy spending, and reduces food benefits, in favor of tax cuts for national defense and immigration enforcement.
With tax high on the agenda, it's perhaps no surprise that another pet project of the Trump administration, boosting the digital asset space, also saw some favourable tax legislation introduced recently.
On July 3, the day before Trump signed his big beautiful bill into law, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) published a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reform the treatment of digital assets. Amongst the proposed changes were a 'de minimis exclusion' from taxation for digital asset gains or losses of $300 or less, with a $5,000 yearly total cap; a proposal aimed at ending the controversial 'double taxation' of digital asset miners; and various changes to further align the taxation of digital assets with the treatment of other asset classes such as securities and commodities. The Wyoming Republican claimed the bill would 'generate approximately $600 million in net revenue during the 2025-2034 budget window.'
Lummis' bill is currently just starting its long journey through committee stage in the Senate, but as the most detailed and specific piece of digital currency tax legislation currently proposed in either chamber of Congress, it will likely come up in next Wednesday's House of Representative's 'Crypto Week' hearing focused on tax.
Whether the discussion revolves around the merits of Lummis' proposals or a potential sister bill that could be launched in the House remains to be seen, but the Republican-led committee has made it clear it is aiming for 'digital asset policy built for the 21st Century' that makes America 'the crypto capital of the world.'
In terms of other legislation that will certainly be under discussion next week, chairman of the House Committee on
Financial Services, Representative French Hill (R-AR), said that the House will be considering the CLARITY Act, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, and the Senate's GENIUS Act; the latter having emerged as the most realistic chance for stablecoin legislation to pass this year.
Watch: How do you build a successful ecosystem? Bring blockchain to the builders!
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