Congress to Discuss Crypto Tax Rules: What to Watch

The House Ways and Means committee will review draft crypto tax bills covering staking, mining, network fees, and reporting.

In brief

• The House Ways and Means committee will review a package of crypto tax proposals at a hearing on Tuesday.
• Lawmakers will revisit how staking rewards and small transactions are taxed.
• A practical discussion over targeted, workable tax rules is expected, one that could fix what has so far been a “guessing game,” Decrypt was told.

The House tax writing committee will take up digital asset taxation, moving a set of crypto tax proposals into public debate as Congress continues its broader push to write federal policy for the industry.

Scheduled for 2pm ET on Tuesday, the hearing will be broadcast live on the House Ways and Means Committee’s YouTube channel, according to the committee page published Monday. Witnesses include tax and policy officials from Fidelity, Coinbase, Coin Center, and NYU Law’s Tax Law Center, covering both industry and tax policy perspectives.

The hearing follows a package of Republican draft bills released last week that would change how the Internal Revenue Service treats parts of the crypto economy, while giving lawmakers a chance to weigh which proposals are ready to advance, and which ones would still need narrower language.

Measures to be discussed include tax relief for staking and mining rewards when they are generated, a $10 exemption for network fees on up to 5,000 transactions a year, and a two yeear safe harbor for some taxpayers who failed to report prior crypto gains.

At issue are long running disputes over when crypto rewards and small transactions should become taxable.

Since late last year, House Republicans have pressed the IRS to scrap guidance taxing staking rewards when received, while Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) proposed months earlier to let miners and stakers defer taxes until rewards are sold.

Payment treatment is another key fault line, especially after the GENIUS Act signed in July last year created a federal framework for stablecoins.

Earlier this year, Bitcoin advocates urged lawmakers to extend small transaction tax relief beyond stablecoins, warning that everyday crypto payments still carry reporting burdens under current rules.

What to expect

During a Ways and Means hearing last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told lawmakers that "properly calibrated regulation is essential for economic growth, capital formation, employment, and higher wages."

While Secretary Bessent’s testimony did not address digital assets, the line offers context for Tuesday’s hearing, where lawmakers are expected to examine draft proposals dealing with staking, mining, network fees, and other digital asset tax issues.

"Staking and mining rewards have sat in an awkward grey area for years, and the absence of clear rules has made compliance a guessing game for anyone actively participating in these networks," Markus Levin, co-founder of decentralized data network XYO, told Decrypt.

Congress appears to be asking "the right questions" by working through “specific, targeted legislation” instead of trying to “retrofit crypto” into tax categories that were "never designed for it," Levin added.

Tuesday’s hearing is likely to be a "constructive, business focused discussion" where participants would move “on making the rules workable,” instead of just going through a voting session, Dan Dadybayo, strategy lead at crypto infrastructure developer Horizontal Systems, told Decrypt.

Dadybayo said he does not expect lawmakers to revisit the new 1% remittance transfer tax, which applies to certain remittance transfers made after Dec. 31, 2025, under an IRS and Treasury proposal.

The rule targets cash funded transfers and leaves out common account based payments, he explained. Stablecoins, ACH and wire transfers, and processors such as Stripe fall outside that framework, Dadybayo said, arguing that "revisiting the policy would hurt American innovation more than the remittance companies."

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