- Senator Cynthia Lummis is trying to add a major crypto tax measure to Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
- The amendment seeks to end “double taxation” on staking/mining rewards, taxing them only when sold.
- It proposes waiving taxes on small crypto transactions below $300 (with a $5,000 annual cap).
US Senator Cynthia Lummis is making a significant push to reshape how the United States taxes cryptocurrency, seeking to insert a key crypto tax measure into the massive budget bill that underpins much of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.
The proposed amendment aims to reduce the tax burdens and complexities associated with fundamental crypto activities like staking, mining, and small-scale transactions.
Lummis officially sought on Monday to introduce her amendment into Congress’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The language in her proposal would, among other things, waive taxes on small crypto transactions valued below $300 (with an overall annual transaction cap of $5,000).
The crypto industry contends that this provision would eliminate a significant headache for casual users, removing the burden of calculating capital gains on minor digital asset activities and potentially encouraging broader adoption among those who have been hesitant to try crypto.
Perhaps most significantly, the amendment aims to rationalize what the industry views as an unfair tax approach to staking and mining.
Currently, miners and stakers are often taxed twice: once when they receive newly created assets or rewards, and a second time when they sell those assets.
In a post on the social media platform X on June 30, 2025, Senator Lummis championed the need for this change:
For years, miners and stakers have been taxed TWICE. Once when they receive block rewards, and again when they sell it. It’s time to stop this unfair tax treatment and ensure America is the world’s Bitcoin and Crypto Superpower. 🇺🇸
Echoing this sentiment, the Digital Chamber, a prominent US crypto lobbying group, argued on Monday that the proposed move would repair “a long overdue mistake on how these rewards are treated for tax purposes.”
“Today, staking and block rewards are taxed upon both acquisition and point of sale,” the group stated, as it urged its constituents to petition Congress for support.
Senator Lummis’ provision solves this by taxing rewards only when sold, aligning policy with actual income.
Under Lummis’s amendment, assets gained from staking, mining, airdrops, and network forks would all receive the same tax treatment, being taxed only upon their eventual sale, not at the moment of acquisition.
The amendment, which has not yet come up for a vote, also seeks to address tax issues related to crypto lending, wash sales, and charitable contributions.
It might also close the “wash-trading” loophole that lawmakers have sought to address for years.
Under current rules, crypto investors can employ a “tax-loss harvesting” strategy by strategically selling investments at a loss and then immediately re-purchasing them, a practice already prohibited for stocks and other securities.
A high-stakes legislative battle: the ‘vote-a-rama’
Senator Lummis attempted to introduce her amendment into the legislative mix during a “vote-a-rama,” an unlimited amendment process that began in the Senate on Monday morning.
The stakes for this wide-ranging budget bill are exceptionally high for congressional Republicans.
However, party leaders are facing a tough battle to keep all of their members in the ‘yes’ column, given the narrow Republican majorities in both chambers.
Democrats have united in opposition to the nearly 1,000-page legislation, taking issue with provisions such as potential cuts to Medicaid, the rollback of green energy initiatives, and other contentious aspects.
The US House of Representatives managed to narrowly pass its own version of the massive spending bill last month.
If the Senate approves a version with changes, the bill would have to return to the House for another vote.
An analysis of the measure concluded that its provisions could add more than $3 trillion to the US budget deficit, a figure that has caused significant concern among fiscal conservatives and market observers.
The fate of Lummis’s crypto amendment, and the “Big Beautiful Bill” itself, remains uncertain as lawmakers continue to navigate these complex political and fiscal challenges.
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