There has been a lot of talk in the news about the new infrastructure bill that Congress is trying to pass, especially concerning its budget. The bill is projected to cost more than $1 trillion, leading some people to wonder how we’re paying for it. But the 2,702-page bill has come prepared. Lawmakers proposed raising around $28 to $30 billion from the crypto community. How will they raise the money? They want to require information reporting from exchanges and other parties with digital assets.
What’s in the new infrastructure bill?
The bill is still a draft, so it’s still possible to change the language of it. However, according to the draft copy:
“Any broker, with respect to any transfer (which is not part of a sale or exchange executed by such broker) during a calendar year of a covered security which is a digital asset from an account maintained by such broker to an account which is not maintained by, or an address not associated with, a person that such broker knows or has reason to know is also a broker, shall make a return for such calendar year.”
In short, brokerages—which the bill says may include individuals—will have to report/file their earnings, probably resulting in more people paying taxes. This isn’t a new tax: The bill is redefining “broker” and trying to increase reporting on returns of assets. These changes result in the government collecting more taxes, which will be used to fund the new infrastructure bill.
What does this mean for crypto investors?
We could see several effects. In addition to brokerages and exchanges, crypto wallet hardware developers, multi-service providers, liquidity providers and potentially even miners would have to start reporting their transactions. This requirement is probably worrying the crypto community because the whole point of crypto was to get away from regulation and to have a transactional currency free of governmental control. So, people in the United States may be discouraged from using crypto if this bill is passed. But the other side of the argument is crypto regulation is a sign that it’s becoming more legit, further solidifying the existence of cryptocurrency.
Crypto isn’t going away anytime soon, so what do you think? Should crypto be regulated or not? Let us know in the comments. For more great crypto content, check this out!
