White House Approves Amended Cryptocurrency Tax Bill

The White House has approved an amendment to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill by Senators Mark Warner, Rob Portman, and Kyrsten Sinema that supports the proof-of-work consensus mechanism over other mechanisms.

However, this amended bill contends with another introduced a day before, which has the support of the crypto community. The contending bill got sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden, Cynthia Lummis, and Pat Toomey.

Speaking on the matter, the White House economics reporter for The Washington Post Jeff Stein noted on Twitter yesterday that:

“White House is coming out formally in support of [the] Warner-Portman-Sinema crypto amendment, implicitly against the Toomey-Wyden-Lummis plan.”

In an issued statement, the White House Deputy Press Secretary, Andrew Bates, noted that:

“The Administration is pleased with the progress that has yielded a compromise sponsored by Senators Warner, Portman, and Sinema to advance the bipartisan infrastructure package and clarify the measure to reduce tax evasion in the cryptocurrency market.”

The official statement also noted that: “The Administration believes this provision will strengthen tax compliance in this emerging area of finance and ensure that high-income taxpayers are contributing what they owe under the law … we believe that the alternative amendment put forward by Senators Warner, Portman, and Sinema strikes the right balance and makes an important step forward in promoting tax compliance.”

Crypto Community not in Support of the White House-approved Bill

Not surprisingly, the new White House-approved amendment got met with outrage from the crypto community.

Chief executive of Coin Center— a leading non-profit focused on the policy issues facing cryptocurrencies— Jerry Brito termed the amendment “ridiculous,” arguing that “Sen. Warner and Portman are proposing a last-minute amendment competing with the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment.” Mr. Brito added that:

“The White House is endorsing proof-of-work over all other consensus mechanisms to be enshrined in law … It is disastrous. It only excludes proof-of-work mining. And it does nothing for software devs.”

Coin Center’s Director of Communications, Neeraj Agrawal, agreed with the CEO, adding that: “The White House is choosing to support proof-of-work over proof-of-stake, in law, in an unrelated infrastructure bill. This will have huge consequences for how cryptocurrency develops in America.”

Nonetheless, several lawmakers have pledged their support for the bipartisan Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment.

 

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