Why It Matters

Millions of Americans who trade, mine, or stake cryptocurrency have operated for years under a patchwork of IRS guidance that leaves basic questions: When is a digital asset taxable? What counts as a broker? How should staking rewards be treated? -all without clear legislative answers. The House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to hold a full committee digital asset taxation hearing on June 9. How Congress resolves these questions will shape IRS enforcement priorities, broker reporting obligations, and the tax liability of an estimated 50 million Americans who hold some form of digital asset.

The Legislative Landscape

The hearing arrives at a moment of genuine bipartisan momentum. Reps. Steven Horsford (D-NV) and Max Miller (R-OH), both Ways and Means members, have co-authored the Digital Asset Protection, Accountability, Regulation, Innovation, Taxation, and Yields (PARITY) Act, with a revised discussion draft released March 26, 2026. The bill would apply wash-sale rules to digital asset transactions, defer staking taxes for up to five years, and eliminate capital gains tax on stablecoin payments under $200.

Horsford, speaking at the Consensus Miami conference in May, described the PARITY Act as a "durable floor" for crypto taxation, and cautioned against broader bills that risk pairing "genuinely helpful provisions with definitional language that is so broad that it creates other problems." His earlier press release put it plainly: "Today, even the smallest crypto transaction can trigger tax calculation while other areas of the law lack clarity and invite abuse."

The committee held a closed-door bipartisan meeting on May 14 specifically to discuss cryptocurrency taxation. This session appears to have served as a staging ground for the formal public hearing now scheduled for June 9.

On the Senate side, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced S. 2207, the most comprehensive digital asset tax reform bill in the 119th Congress. It would formally define "digital asset" in the tax code, create a de minimis exemption for personal transactions under $300, apply wash sale rules, allow mark-to-market elections for dealers, and defer income recognition from mining and staking until assets are sold. The bill has drawn lobbying engagement from Coinbase, the Blockchain Association, Circle Internet Financial, Riot Platforms, and the DeFi Education Fund, among others.

Regulatory Pressure

Adding urgency to the legislative debate is the rollout of Form 1099-DA, a new IRS form requiring digital asset brokers (primarily centralized exchanges) to report customer sales to the IRS. The form applies to 2025 transactions, with statements being sent to taxpayers in early 2026. Tax professionals have flagged the rollout as presenting significant compliance challenges for brokers and traders. On March 5, 2026, the IRS issued proposed regulations to allow brokers to provide 1099-DA statements electronically rather than by paper, a sign that the agency is still working through implementation.

Compounding the pressure, two federal court cases are actively challenging the IRS's tax treatment of stakeholder rewards. In Jarrett v. United States and Rogovy v. Commissioner, cryptocurrency advocates are litigating whether newly created tokens from staking should be taxable at receipt. According to a TaxProf Blog report from June 1, Professor Omri Marian of the UC Irvine School of Law noted the cases "could sidestep current IRS guidance." Congressional action could resolve the ambiguity before the courts do.

The Bigger Picture

Forbes framed the moment directly on May 29: "Crypto's Next Legislative Debate Is Tax Policy, And It Is Bipartisan." A TaxProf Blog analysis from May 25 noted that applying old tax law concepts to new technology is "more fraught than legislative drafters realize," a warning that complexity could slow even bipartisan efforts.

The Crypto Council for Innovation issued a statement commending the Ways and Means Committee for scheduling the hearing, saying it "recognizes the importance of digital asset tax clarity" to the industry.

The hearing will be chaired by Jason Smith (R-MO), with Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) serving as ranking member. Whether the committee moves toward a formal markup of the PARITY Act or a broader vehicle, potentially drawing on provisions in the Lummis Senate bill, is the central question the June 9 session is expected to begin answering.

The Bottom Line

The Ways and Means Committee has already taken one significant action on digital asset tax regulation in this Congress. In February 2025, the committee voted 26–16 to advance H.J.Res. 25, a Congressional Review Act resolution nullifying an IRS rule that would have required decentralized finance (DeFi) platform operators to report gross proceeds from digital asset sales as "brokers." The resolution passed the full House 292–132 and the Senate 70–28, and was signed into law as Public Law 119-5 on April 10, 2025. Its sponsor, Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH), is a Ways and Means member.

Striking down the DeFi broker rule resolved one immediate controversy but left the broader framework of digital asset tax policy unaddressed. The June 9 digital asset taxation hearing is, in part, a response to that gap.

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