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Digital Chamber of Commerce President Perianne Boring notes that the bill raises “concerns” because it “would extend information reporting requirements to people of different types of entities who have no means of comply”.
President Biden on Thursday distanced himself from a proposal by Finance Committee Chairman Senator Ron Wyden and other Senators to relax proposed regulations on certain cryptocurrency reporting requirements in the bill bipartite on infrastructure.
Wyden, D-Ore, has joined Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., And Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., To oppose wording in the bill which they believe would stifle innovation and impose burdens on people like Bitcoin miners who would be difficult to conform to.
The trio of senators proposed an amendment on the matter. But the authors of the bill – Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Mark Warner, D-Va. – drafted a counter-amendment which the president endorsed instead.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said the administration supports the Portman-Warner-Sinema Amendment aimed at “clarifying the measure to reduce tax evasion in the cryptocurrency market” .
SENATORS AIM TO CLARIFY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR CRYPTO-CURRENCIES WITH AMENDMENT TO BILL ON INFRASTRUCTURE
“The administration believes this provision will strengthen tax compliance in this emerging area of finance and ensure that high-income taxpayers contribute what they owe under the law,” Bates continued. “We are grateful to President Wyden for his leadership in pushing the Senate to address this issue, however, we believe the Alternative Amendment… strikes the right balance.”
But Wyden, Toomey, and Lummis strongly disagreed, accusing the White House and fellow senators of favoring parts of the crypto industry – particularly proof-of-work mining – over d ‘others.
“The Warner-Portman-Sinema Amendment provides a government-approved haven for the most climate-damaging form of crypto-technology called proof of work,” Wyden said in a tweet. “It would be a mistake for the climate and for innovation to push this amendment forward.”
Jerry Brito, executive director of crypto think tank Coin Center, said the White House-backed amendment was “disastrous.” He said the amendment would amount to “the US Congress picking winners and losers.”
“He’s right,” Toomey tweeted.
“The original language was too broad when it comes to what a broker is,” said Bryson Bort, senior researcher at the R Street Institute. “The problem was, this was such a broad definition – does that mean that people who create software used by cryptocurrency miners are going to have to report to the IRS? what if you built hardware? What if you just provided network service? “
Bort added: “This is government regulation that catches up with something that exists… There will be winners and losers because by nature you decide what net governments are going to fall on and you get caught up in it. that net or you can watch it… swoosh right next to you. ”
“Our amendment protects minors as well as hardware and software developers,” Lummis said in a tweet. “The other no. The choice is clear.”
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Representatives for Portman and Warner did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story.
The Senate tried to speed up the infrastructure bill – which appears to have votes to pass – by unanimous consent Thursday night. But the cryptocurrency disagreement delayed negotiations and Senator Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Refused to agree to an expedited passage.
This means the Senate will likely vote to end debate on the bill on Saturday and its final passage early next week.
Peter Doocy of Fox News contributed to this report.
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