Janet Yellen’s view on yesterday’s “compromise” amendment is unknown, although she allegedly objected to the encryption wording submitted by Senators Wyden, Lummis, and Toomey.
On Wednesday of this week, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced an amendment to an infrastructure measure that would clarify language relating to cryptocurrency.
While the White House appears to endorse the proposal, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has allegedly spoken out against it.
According to a Friday storey in the Washington Post, Yellen met with senators on Aug. 5 to voice her opposition to the proposed modification.
She persuaded Senator Ron Wyden for modifications to the bill that, if included, would exclude certain cryptocurrency companies from broker reporting requirements. Wyden, along with Cynthia Lummis and Pat Toomey, is one of the three senators that authored the amendment.
The Senate’s original infrastructure bill, HR 3684, proposes tightening regulations on organisations that handle cryptocurrencies and expanding reporting requirements for brokers, demanding that digital asset transactions worth more than $10,000 be disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS.
Additionally, it implies that anyone in the business of “validating distributed ledger transactions,” “developing digital assets or their corresponding protocols,” or dealing with mining software or hardware will very certainly face increased tax reporting obligations for digital transactions.
However, the Wyden, Lummis, and Toomey amendment proposes modifying the bill’s definition of a broker, which would likely exempt many players in the cryptocurrency industry from the new reporting obligations.
The proposal first garnered support from prominent figures in the cryptocurrency space, as well as Senator Rob Portman, a leading Republican voice in the bill’s talks.
On Aug. 5, Portman, along with Senators Mark Warner and Kyrsten Sinema, introduced a modified amendment to the infrastructure deal that would exclude proof-of-work and providers of hardware and software wallets.
However, the text implies that cryptocurrency creators and proof-of-stake validators will remain subject to additional reporting and taxation, which some have characterised as “unworkable.”
Later that day, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates stated that the Biden administration would support the Warner and Portman amendment, but not the Wyden, Lummis, and Toomey amendment modifications.
According to Bates, the former “strikes the appropriate balance and advances tax compliance significantly.” On the updated amendment, Yellen’s view is uncertain.
On the updated amendment, Yellen’s view is uncertain. She has previously stated, however, that the abuse of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets is a rising problem in the United States.
The language used in the infrastructure plan regarding cryptocurrency, mining, and blockchain may have a significant impact on the bill’s passage in the Senate.
Legislators have yet to settle the proposed amendments — the most recent “compromise” from Portman and Warner, the original from Wyden, Lummis, and Toomey, and one from Texas Senator Ted Cruz, according to reports.
Numerous senators will be absent from today’s session in order to attend the funeral of former Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi, who died last week in a bicycle accident. Additionally, beginning Aug. 9, the government body will be in recess.
