TL;DR:
- Lawmakers’ Digital Asset PARITY Act seeks clearer, consistent digital asset taxation aligned with traditional market rules and practical enforcement overall.
- A de minimis exemption would let people use dollar pegged stablecoins for small purchases without triggering capital gains reporting each time.
- The draft adds wash sale and constructive sale rules, offers mark to market accounting and nontaxable lending, and lets miners and stakers defer reward taxes to address phantom income.
Crypto tax policy is getting a compliance makeover as US lawmakers circulate a discussion draft that would bring digital assets closer to the rules used for stocks, commodities, and securities. The bipartisan Digital Asset PARITY Act, supported by Representatives Max Miller and Steven Horsford, targets specific weaknesses in the current system rather than sweeping restrictions. With stablecoins moving from trading rails into payments, tax reporting is becoming a scaling constraint for consumers and businesses. Both linked explainers frame the push as clearer, more consistent tax treatment. Aim is to reduce uncertainty and keep enforcement practical.
Tax mechanics
At the retail edge, the draft introduces a de minimis exemption for dollar pegged stablecoins used in small transactions. The operating theory is that people should be able to spend stablecoins for routine purchases without triggering capital gains reporting on every swipe, transfer, or checkout. That shift would make stablecoins behave more like a payment instrument in the tax stack, not a perpetual accounting event. In policy terms, everyday settlement becomes the priority, with low value activity carved out to reduce compliance noise. It also signals that lawmakers want consumer use without paperwork drag.
Beyond payments, the proposal aims to align digital asset taxation with market rules and close gray areas that produce inconsistent reporting. It would clarify income rules for foreign investors using US crypto platforms, placing cross border activity inside a cleaner framework. For active traders and dealers, the draft applies wash sale and constructive sale rules to frequently traded tokens, limiting strategies that exploit timing and offset mechanics. Eligible firms could elect mark to market accounting, and parity comes with guardrails via nontaxable treatment for qualifying lending arrangements structured like real loans to improve timing clarity.
Mining and staking provisions tackle the recurring complaint of “phantom income,” where rewards can be taxed before they are sold or even usable. The draft would let taxpayers defer taxes on rewards until a clearly defined event, then treat the value as ordinary income with a set cost basis for future gains. That sequencing is pitched as reducing friction while keeping audit trails intact. A crypto analyst cited in coverage, Mason Blak C, said the bill addresses real tax challenges. The direction is clearer rules, even as the text remains a draft for now.
