This post was originally published on this site
A $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill appears on track to pass the Senate shortly without getting changes sought by the cryptocurrency industry’s supporters, although one key senator said he expects the Treasury Department could issue guidance that will help.
The bill features new tax-reporting requirements on transactions involving bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, in a move that’s expected to raise $28 billion to help provide funding for its spending on roads, broadband internet and other infrastructure projects. But crypto advocates have warned the new requirements could end up affecting not just brokers, but also miners and other industry players.
See: Crypto allies rally against ‘ignorant’ new tax rules in bipartisan infrastructure deal
An amendment to address the issue was rolled out last week by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Sens. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, while the Biden White House said it preferred a different amendment on the matter that was backed by Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Mark Warner of Virginia.
But now no amendment on the issue has been approved by the Senate, in a development that Height Capital Markets analyst Edwin Groshans described on Monday as “negative for digital assets.”
“We were expecting the Senate to vote on a number of amendments, potentially including a digital asset amendment,” Groshans said in a note. “However, delays to the process resulted in an abrupt end to considering additional amendments including changes to the digital asset legislative text.”
The Height analyst said prospects for getting the hoped-for crypto amendments in the House are “murky but very dim.”
Portman, however, sounded upbeat on Monday regarding Washington’s ability to resolve the matter, saying in a CNBC interview that he wants to “be sure we’re not bringing in, say, miners or stakers or folks involved in software or hardware.”
The Ohio Republican said he gave a speech on the Senate floor on Sunday to help ensure that people understand that it’s not the intent of the legislation to be overly expansive.
“Treasury also needs to help us. I hope they’ll issue something soon — I think they will — to clear that up,” he added.
Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
was rallying on Monday, as some traders watched how it performed in the vicinity of a key chart level — its 200-day moving average.
