What’s next for crypto advocates






Updated


With Daniel Lippman

WHERE DO CRYPTO ADVOCATES GO FROM HERE?: Following the cryptocurrency world’s high-profile, if unsuccessful efforts to extract changes in reporting requirements introduced in the bipartisan infrastructure bill the Senate passed this week, major players in the advocacy space say they plan to take a beat to recuperate before engaging allies in the House about revising the bill’s language — a step they acknowledge is far from guaranteed despite positive signals from lawmakers.

— At issue in the bill were new tax rules that would require cryptocurrency trading platforms and other entities defined as “brokers” to report transactions to the IRS. Advocates said they were blindsided by what they described as an overly broad definition of broker that could sweep up software developers and so-called miners who would find it impossible to comply with the requirements. “We are probably like everyone else trying to figure out what the process is going to look like” for amending the bill in the House, said Kristin Smith, executive director of the Blockchain Association, a key industry lobbying group.

— “I can’t say I have a fully formed plan of action that I can share,” added Jerry Brito, who leads Coin Center, a think tank that specializes in cryptocurrency policy, civil liberties and digital rights. He noted that “certainly there are many more champions of cryptocurrency technology in the House,” some of whom have started

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