The House just cleared the first federal crypto tax bill in a 38–5 vote

Less than 24 hours after the Senate let the CLARITY Act die, the House's tax-writing committee handed the crypto industry a consolation prize — and it was bipartisan.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted 38–5 on Wednesday to advance the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, sending the first-ever federal crypto tax framework to the full House. "This is a historic moment for this Committee," said Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo. "After more than a year of working together, Republican and Democrat Members have come together to establish the first-ever tax framework for digital assets."

What the bill would actually change

The centerpiece is de minimis relief: taxpayers wouldn't have to recognize gains or losses when using digital assets to pay network or transaction fees of $10 or less. Without that exemption, Smith noted, buying a cup of coffee "triggers an absurd maze of compliance" under today's tax accounting.

The bill also creates special tax treatment for qualifying dollar-pegged stablecoins and certain crypto lending agreements, extends wash-sale rules to widely traded digital assets, and sets new rules for mining and staking income — which would be taxed as ordinary income. It also touches broker requirements and transfers, and would require Treasury to stand up a Digital Asset Voluntary Disclosure Program within 12 months of enactment, letting qualifying taxpayers amend earlier returns and settle what they owe.

The gaps nobody can agree on yet

The staking and mining provisions are the murkiest part. An earlier version of the bill offered an option to defer recognition of that income; that was removed, leaving open the question of when rewards become taxable. "This package establishes ordinary income treatment, but leaves that timing question unresolved," said Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., who helped craft the bill.

The $10 threshold is also modest compared with earlier de minimis proposals, and it would only apply to transaction and network fees — not to everyday purchases. Crypto Council for Innovation's Alison Mangiero said there's still work to do on broader de minimis relief for everyday transactions, which advocates say is necessary to make digital assets practical as money.

The politics are ugly; the math is hard

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, blasted the markup: "This bill still bestows billions in tax breaks for the crypto industry, benefiting billionaire crypto whales and some of the richest Americans like the Trump family." And time is the real enemy — with the House leaving Washington until after the November elections, the bill's most likely path is the lame-duck session's roughly five weeks of congressional work before January.

Still, the 38–5 vote gives the measure momentum that Tuesday's Senate collapse couldn't touch. If it stalls again, Mangiero noted, attention shifts to the Senate Finance Committee, which has also shown interest in advancing crypto tax legislation.

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