summary of proposed crypto provision in the infrastructure bill
A friend of mine asked me to look into this
Introduction
I did a little bit of research re. the crypto provision that is in the Infrastructure Bill that is currently being proposed in the United States.
I work at UNICEFās cryptocurrency team and back in 2019 we setup a cryptocurrency denominated fund. UNICEFās main offices are located in the US but technically we are on āinternational groundsā. I donāt think the Infrastructure Bill will apply to the cryptocurrency work that we do (I hope).
Though this is the case, I am still interested in the potential impact that the crypto provision in the Infrastructure Bill may have on the average person or on blockchain and cryptocurrency companies in the US.
My findings are summarized below.
Summary of Proposed Crypto Provision in the Infrastructure Bill
There is a tax reporting requirement for cryptocurrency transactions (which requires a broker / person or company that provides a service that executes transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person) to report transactions to the IRS (e.g. securities brokers for stock and bond trading)
DeFi platforms may be under attack
The implications are broad; not specific enough so a ton of parties may be included in this and might not even know it (e.g. miners, DeFi protocols, liquidators, governance token holders); an example they included are people who create blockchain wallets (lol what)
This bill may also impact miners, stakers, and the average person trying to dabble in cryptocurrencies
Final Thoughts
The good thing is that the bill is not finalized yet. The government is soliciting feedback from cryptocurrency experts to make the provisions more accommodating of the current cryptocurrency atmosphere in the US. The last thing Iād like to see is someone who is creating cryptocurrency software get arrested.
This industry is exciting and Iād hate to see it be staggered by the ambiguity presented in the Infrastructure Bill.