Crypto’s first big tax win comes with a catch for stakers and everyday payments

Crypto groups are pressing Congress to broaden tax relief after a House panel advanced the first digital-asset tax framework.

The House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 10357, the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, by 38-5 on Sept. 16, sending a package covering crypto payments, stablecoins, trading, lending, staking and mining toward the full House. The committee ordered the amended bill favorably reported after adopting Chairman Jason Smith’s substitute.

Industry groups welcomed the vote while signaling that the legislation remains short of several priorities they want addressed before final passage. Those include broader relief for everyday crypto transactions and changes to when staking and mining rewards become taxable.

Alison Mangiero, chief strategy officer and head of US policy at the Crypto Council for Innovation, called the committee vote a historic step but said lawmakers still have room to refine the timing of income recognition for staking and mining rewards and expand de minimis treatment for ordinary digital-asset transactions. CCI had raised similar issues with lawmakers before the markup.

That leaves the industry trying to build on a bill that grants several long-sought tax concessions while stopping short of removing some of the frictions crypto advocates say make digital assets difficult to use for payments and network participation.