Summary points:
- The House Committee on Ways and Means has announced a hearing on tax policy for June 9, 2026.
- The Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) commends the Committee on Ways and Means for recognizing the importance of digital asset tax clarity to the millions of Americans and U.S. businesses holding and using digital assets.
- CCI has been at the forefront of advocacy on digital asset tax issues – to provide clarity for consumers and builders, unlock innovation, and keep industry onshore.
The House Committee on Ways & Means hearing next week is an important step in surfacing digital asset tax policy issues and advancing comprehensive policy. The stakes are significant: the total crypto asset market capitalization stands at $3.2 trillion, one in four Americans own cryptocurrency, and 73% of small business owners expect crypto to increase as a business payment method. Yet millions of these Americans are forced to navigate a tax framework that was not designed for digital assets — one riddled with ambiguity and, increasingly, pushing market activity, infrastructure, and talent overseas. More than half of American crypto holders don’t understand the fundamental concept of taxability when it comes to their digital asset holdings. As much as 88% of centralized exchange trading volume occurred on non-U.S. exchanges in 2025. Unclear regulation is pushing critical staking infrastructure that secures billions of dollars of value offshore (about 70% on average across the top ten largest blockchain protocols).
The issues before the Committee are concrete and addressable. CCI urges the Committee to develop comprehensive tax legislation grounded in five principles: parity, fostering innovation, preserving core infrastructure, use case enablement, and global competitiveness:
- Stablecoins: Treat payment stablecoins as digital cash — exempt their use from income tax, relieve brokers of disproportionate reporting obligations, and allow a fixed $1 valuation for GENIUS Act–conforming stablecoins.
- De minimis exemption: Exclude small gains up to a reasonable annual threshold, removing the reporting burden on everyday transactions while preserving full taxation of economically meaningful activity.
- Staking and mining rewards: End “phantom income” by taxing rewards as capital gains upon sale (at zero basis) rather than at receipt; source staking income to the recipient’s residence to avoid penalizing U.S. infrastructure; expand the UBTI carveout to cover digital asset income for tax-exempt investors; and provide further ETP clarity through grantor trust and publicly traded partnership rule updates.
- Parity with traditional financial assets: Extend §1058 to digital asset lending (so it isn’t a taxable event), permit mark-to-market elections for dealers and traders, apply wash sale and constructive sale rules as part of a comprehensive package, and establish a standalone digital asset trading safe harbor.
- Repatriation of foreign-held assets: Create incentives — including modernized reorganization and valuation rules — to bring offshore protocol treasuries, IP, and governance assets back onshore.
CCI has been at the forefront of advocacy on digital asset tax issues – to provide clarity for consumers and builders, unlock innovation, and keep industry onshore.
Learn more about CCI’s digital asset tax positions and access resources here:
- LETTER: Support for the Development of a Comprehensive Legislative Tax Framework for Digital Assets to the Committee on Ways & Means
- BRIEF: How Revising Tax Policy on Staking can Secure a Growing Sector of the Financial System
- OP-ED: Tax Season Is Here — Crypto Tax Policy Needs a Reset
- LETTER: An Open Letter in Support of a Digital Asset De Minimis Tax Exemption
- BLOG: Congress Passed GENIUS. Market Structure Is Next. But Skipping Crypto Tax Would Be a Mistake
