US Reps Hope to Amend Infrastructure Bill’s Crypto Rules

A bipartisan collective of U.S. congressional representatives has introduced a bill aimed at dealing with a tax reporting requirement for cryptocurrency in the $1.7 trillion infrastructure bill.

As CNBC reported Thursday (Nov. 18), the Keep Innovation in America Act, led by Reps. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, would redefine brokers, a group now tied to the tax reporting rules, so that software developers, who do not have the necessary customer information to report, would not be bound to the new measure.

The report says lawmakers tried to amend the issue before the infrastructure bill passed earlier this week, but it was blocked by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., for what was apparently an unrelated reason, CNBC said.

Crypto advocates have warned that ambiguous language in the current bill would create uncertainty and push the industry to other countries to avoid unwittingly failing to comply with the rules.

“We applaud Congressman McHenry’s bipartisan efforts to clarify the overly-broad and unclear language targeting crypto in the infrastructure bill,” Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said in a statement.

“This legislation will protect innovation in the United States and strengthen our status as a leader in blockchain technology,” Perianne Boring, founder and CEO of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, told CNBC.

Boring added that the measure is necessary to “to protect consumer privacy by undoing a potentially intrusive part of the infrastructure bill that threatens (to) treat crypto users like criminals and force crypto to share private information to engage in routine transactions.”

Read more: Senators Aim to Amend Infrastructure Bill’s Crypto Rules

The proposed bill is one of two pieces of legislation proposed this week to deal with the crypto language in the infrastructure bill.

A bill, introduced Monday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, and Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, was designed to override the crypto section of the infrastructure bill.

“Our bill makes it clear that the new reporting requirements do not apply to individuals developing blockchain technology and wallets,” Wyden said in a statement. “This will protect American innovation while at the same time ensuring that those who buy and sell cryptocurrency pay the taxes they already owe.”

The cryptocurrency rules were put into the infrastructure bill to cover some of the cost of its spending. Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation says these measures would raise around $28 billion over the course of a decade.