House tax panel's crypto bill drops mining, staking reward tax deferral

The House Ways and Means Committee is set to take up a sweeping digital asset tax package that leaves out a top priority for crypto miners and stakers: deferring tax on newly created tokens until they are sold. The 114-page Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act (H.R. 10357), released by the committee on Monday ahead of a Wednesday markup, does not include language that would postpone taxation of mining and staking rewards. That omission contrasts with the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act introduced in June by Representative Mike Carey. Carey's bill would let taxpayers choose when to recognize mining and staking rewards as income, either at receipt or by treating the tokens as taxpayer-created property with tax due upon sale. Without the deferral provision, mining and staking rewards would generally remain taxable when recipients receive or gain control of the tokens, potentially creating a tax bill before the assets are converted to cash. Industry groups have urged Congress to change that treatment. The Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and Digital Chamber previously endorsed Carey's proposal, arguing that taxing rewards before a sale can strain liquidity for miners and stakers. The groups also opposed a proposed amendment that would have limited any deferral period to five years. Despite excluding the reward-deferral approach, H.R. 10357 keeps a range of broader crypto tax provisions affecting mining, staking and other digital asset activity. The bill would treat income from blockchain validation as ordinary income and set sourcing rules to determine whether that income is US- or foreign-sourced. It would also allow certain qualifying investment trusts to stake digital assets without losing their trust status. The package includes a de minimis carve-out for small blockchain-related payments: using crypto for transaction or network fees of $10 or less would not require taxpayers to recognize a gain or loss. Additional sections address dollar-linked stablecoins and digital asset lending. Eligible US dollar stablecoins would receive specialized tax treatment, while qualifying crypto loans could avoid being treated as taxable sales. The bill would extend constructive sale and wash sale rules to digital assets and introduce simplified accounting methods for widely traded crypto assets. It also proposes an optional disclosure process for taxpayers seeking to address prior digital asset tax violations. In June, the committee circulated seven crypto tax proposals and later held a hearing on digital asset taxation. Those drafts covered stablecoin taxation, mining and staking, and ways to reduce reporting burdens tied to crypto transactions. The House tax debate is unfolding as lawmakers also push to establish broader US rules for digital assets. In the Senate, lawmakers are separately weighing whether to advance the CLARITY Act, which would define how the SEC and CFTC split oversight of the crypto market.