Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) submitted a
competing amendment on Thursday to an earlier amendment to the Senate
infrastructure bill’s cryptocurrency provision.
- The amendment, a copy of which was obtained by CoinDesk, is limited in
scope, excluding only proof-of-work mining, or the selling of hardware or
software that permits individuals to control private keys that provide access
to digital assets.
- In a tweet Thursday evening, Jerry Brito, the executive director of
the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Coin Center called the amendment
“disastrous.” He added: “And it does nothing for software devs. Ridiculous!”
- The crypto-specific provision would raise $28 billion toward $1
trillion in infrastructure improvements but has been contentious, briefly
holding up the entire infrastructure bill.
- Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Pat Toomey
(R-Pa.) proposed their amendment earlier Thursday to ensure miners, node
operators, developers and other non-custodial crypto industry participants are
exempt from the crypto tax reporting provision.
- The Biden administration formerly supported what it called the
“compromise” in a statement shared on
Twitter late Thursday and attributed to White House Deputy Press Secretary
Andrew Bates.
- Wyden tweeted that the competing amendment
“provides a government-sanctioned safe harbor for the most climate-damaging
form of crypto tech, called proof-of-work. It would be a mistake for the
climate and for innovation to advance this amendment.”
- Similarly, Lummis tweeted that, “Our amendment protects miners as well as hardware and software developers. The other does not. The choice is clear.”
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