Three major crypto lobbying organizations are telling Congress: pass the staking and mining tax bill as-is, no amendments needed.
The Blockchain Association, the Crypto Council for Innovation, and The Digital Chamber sent a joint letter to the House Ways and Means Committee on Sunday, urging lawmakers to approve the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act without modifications. They called it a “durable compromise” after years of uncertainty about how staking and mining rewards get taxed.
Here’s the core issue: right now, crypto miners and stakers owe taxes on their rewards the moment they receive them — even before they can sell. The industry calls this a “tax on phantom income” because you’re paying taxes on assets you haven’t converted to cash yet, which can create serious liquidity problems.
The bill would let miners and stakers choose: pay taxes when you receive the rewards, or defer until you actually sell. Simple enough.
But not everyone’s on board. Democratic Representative Steven Horsford filed an amendment that would cap the tax deferral at five years. Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Hun Kim pushed back on X, saying the amendment would “break” the bill while raising “negligible revenue.” He pointed out that significant concessions were already made during negotiations.
The banking lobby’s also fighting it. The American Bankers Association argued the bill gives crypto an unfair advantage over traditional investments, since stock dividends get taxed in the year they’re received.
The crypto lobby’s counter: reopening any part of this compromise risks killing a bipartisan deal that’s finally within reach. The bill’s been stuck in the Ways and Means Committee since its introduction earlier this month.
This isn’t the only crypto tax bill floating around Congress. The PARITY Act, introduced in May, directs the IRS to study exemptions for small crypto transactions — something the industry’s been pushing for hard. Kraken alone sent 56 million tax forms to the IRS, with nearly a third covering transactions under $1.
