Bitcoin Magazine

Crypto Industry Unites Behind Bill to Fix Tax Rules for Miners and Stakers

The three largest U.S. crypto trade associations sent a joint letter to the House Ways and Means Committee on June 21, calling for passage of H.R. 9175, the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act, introduced by Representative Mike Carey (R-OH). 

The Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI), and Digital Chamber described the bill as “a durable compromise” and pressed lawmakers to pass it without changes.

The dispute between the IRS and the crypto industry over mining and staking taxes stretches back over a decade. 

In 2014, the IRS issued Notice 2014-21, which declared that miners must report the fair market value of any mined Bitcoin as gross income at the moment of creation — not at the point of sale. The rule treats mined coins like wages: taxable on receipt, whether or not the miner ever converts them to cash.

The situation for stakers worsened in 2023, when the IRS published Revenue Ruling 2023-14, extending the same logic to proof-of-stake validators. Under that ruling, staking rewards are taxable income the moment a validator earns them, creating a cash-flow problem: validators owe tax on assets they may have no intention of selling.

This dynamic pushes U.S.-based miners and stakers into a difficult position. Proof-of-work and proof-of-stake networks secure more than $1.7 trillion in digital assets. The trade groups argue that forcing participants to recognize income on illiquid rewards discourages domestic validation activity and cedes ground to foreign competitors operating under more favorable tax treatment.

What H.R. 9175 will do for crypto mining

H.R. 9175 does not eliminate tax on mining or staking rewards. Instead, it gives taxpayers a choice. 

Under the bill, miners and stakers can elect to treat new digital assets as self-created property, deferring tax recognition until the point of sale. The bill also allows grantor trusts holding digital assets to receive staking rewards without forfeiting their trust status — a technical fix that matters for institutional participants managing funds through trust structures.

The Ways and Means Committee held a full-committee hearing on digital asset taxation on June 9, the first of its kind in years. Six digital asset tax bills were on the table. H.R. 9175 was among them.

The June 21 letter was signed by Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger, CCI CEO Ji Hun Kim, and Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone. 

Their unified front represents a coordinated industry push at a moment of rare legislative momentum. Senator Cynthia Lummis has run parallel efforts in the Senate, introducing legislation that would defer tax on mining and staking until the point of sale — language that aligns in spirit with H.R. 9175.

The clock is a factor. Congress faces a narrow legislative window before the August recess, and Lummis — one of the Senate’s most vocal advocates for digital asset reform — departs in January 2027. The broader crypto tax reform effort has drawn support from across the crypto industry, with groups pressing Congress to treat digital assets with the same coherence applied to other asset classes.

For crypto miners and stakers who have operated under a cloud of tax uncertainty since Bitcoin’s earliest days, H.R. 9175 represents the most concrete legislative vehicle for relief in years.

Source: BitcoinMagazine