Lummis Goes Solo: Wyoming Senator Unveils Crypto-Tax Overhaul After Budget-Bill Snub

What’s in the bill?

The Joint Committee on Taxation pegs the package at positive $600 million over ten years — proof, Lummis boasts, that “common-sense reform doesn’t have to blow a hole in the deficit.”

Page 1 of the Bill, Source: Lummis

Why it matters

For U.S. users, every sat spent on groceries currently demands a capital-gain calculation. That’s insane for a network that can split a Bitcoin into 100 million units. The bill’s $300 buffer borrows from the existing foreign-currency exemption, acknowledging that nobody tracks penny-level FX gains when they swipe a Visa in Paris. 

On the mining side, the change lines up with Jarrett v. United States, the high-profile Sixth Circuit case arguing that newly minted tokens shouldn’t be taxed until sold — a position championed by Coin Center since 2021. 

How we got here

Lummis tried to slip similar language into Trump’s must-pass budget juggernaut last week. In a marathon vote-a-rama, the crypto pieces were jettisoned, leaving lobbyists fuming and the senator promising a “Plan B.” Today’s filing is that Plan B. 

Early reaction

• Industry groups are ecstatic. The Blockchain Association calls the de minimis rule “a prerequisite for crypto to function as electronic cash.”

• Tax nerds give cautious thumbs-up. KPMG’s crypto-lead points out that wash-sale parity removes an “unfair advantage” critics of the asset class love to highlight.

• Hardline deficit hawks scoff at the $600 million pay-for, calling it “decimal-dust” in a $7 trillion budget.

Road ahead

The bill heads to the Senate Finance Committee, where Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has hinted at holding a hearing on “modernizing digital-asset taxation” before the August recess. Meanwhile, the House is hashing out the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — meaning conference-room brinkmanship is inevitable if either chamber moves first.

Lummis wants public comment: her office posted the draft PDF and invited suggestions on X. 

The contrarian take

Cutting red tape is great, but let’s not pretend a $300 threshold turns Bitcoin into Apple Pay overnight. The real friction isn’t the tax line item — it’s clunky UX, slow settlement, and merchants who’d rather not gamble on price swings. And by extending wash-sale rules, Congress is about to discover whether the IRS can even track wallet hopping across thousands of DEXs. Spoiler: it can’t.

Still, deferring block-reward income is a rare alignment of tax logic and technological reality. If Washington doesn’t seize this low-hanging fruit, miners will keep relocating to friendlier jurisdictions — and the IRS will continue chasing phantom gains it never collects.

In other words, the Senate finally has a bill that marries revenue, rationale, and innovation. Now it just has to get it through… the Senate.