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Points of Focus
- House Ways and Means advanced the crypto tax bill in a reportedly 38-5 vote.
- The bill is a net revenue raiser, $500 million over 10 years, not a cut.
- The mining and staking tax deferral industry wanted was dropped entirely.
The House Ways and Means Committee advanced the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act on Sep. 16 in a 38-5 vote, sending the first comprehensive digital asset tax framework toward a full House floor vote.
🚨JUST IN: The House Ways and Means Committee has advanced the "Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act" in a 38-5 vote.
The bill would ease taxes on small crypto transactions, clarify stablecoin treatment, and address mining, staking and wash-sale rules.
It still needs to pass a full… https://t.co/f3d1iorBHi pic.twitter.com/WbQDstsMMb
— CryptosRus (@CryptosR_Us) September 16, 2026
Chairman Jason Smith called it a ‘historic moment’ in his opening statement, saying Republican and Democrat members had ‘come together to establish the first-ever tax framework for digital assets’ after more than a year of work.
The bill, H.R. 10357, is a net revenue raiser, not a tax cut. The Joint Committee on Taxation’s official estimate puts the net effect at $500 million in additional federal revenue over FY2027-2036, even though its most publicized feature is a consumer-friendly tax exemption.
Crypto tax bill drops staking deferral, adds wash sale rules
The bill exempts digital asset payments of $10 or less used to cover network or transaction fees from capital gains reporting, excluding anyone with more than 5,000 digital asset transactions in the prior year. It also extends the wash sale rule, which already blocks stock traders from claiming a loss and immediately rebuying the same asset, to crypto for the first time, closing a tax-loss harvesting technique that has been legal for digital assets but not stocks.
The most contentious piece never made it into the final bill. An earlier proposal, H.R. 9175, would have let miners and stakers defer paying tax on newly created tokens until they actually sold them. Smith’s committee dropped that deferral entirely rather than cap it, the concession that won over Rep.
Steven Horsford, a Democrat Smith thanked in his opening statement ‘for his commitment to finding a bipartisan path forward.’
Under the final text, mining and staking rewards are taxed as ordinary income when received, with no deferral option.
Why a wagering-loss fix ended up in the crypto tax bill
Smith’s statement also explains a provision that reads oddly inside a crypto tax bill: a full restoration of the gambling-loss deduction, credited to Rep. Max Miller.
Earlier this year, the Senate’s amendments to a separate tax bill cut the deduction to 90% of winnings, leaving bettors owing tax even in years they broke even or lost money overall.
Miller’s fix, folded into today’s package, restores the full deduction up to the amount of winnings. Per JCT, that fix costs $1.997 billion over the same 10-year window, the single largest cost item in the bill, funded by the wash sale extension (+$1.707 billion) and a new mark-to-market election for digital asset dealers and traders (+$2.332 billion).
What’s next for the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act in Congress
Today’s committee vote sends the bill to the full House floor, and then, if passed there, to the Senate, neither of which is scheduled or guaranteed. The contrast with this week’s other major crypto legislation is worth stating plainly: the CLARITY Act failed its Senate cloture vote 49-50 on Tuesday after every Democrat present voted no, while this tax bill appears to have cleared committee with genuine bipartisan support the same week.
Tax policy and market structure have moved on very different tracks in Congress this year, and today’s result suggests the tax side is proving easier to negotiate than the regulatory side.
A committee vote also locks in specific text that survives even if this Congress runs out of time to finish the job.
Cozen O’Connor’s public policy team, which tracked the actual markup discussion, noted that members raised ongoing concerns about the mining and staking rules and the charitable contribution provisions, and that some sought further additions, including an anti-avoidance rule tied to Puerto Rico sourcing, meaning today’s outcome is unlikely to be the final word on every detail even if the broader bill advances further.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
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