Washington’s Crypto Tax Bill Targets the $2 Gas Fee Problem, and Delays the Harder Fights

BitcoinWorld Washington’s Crypto Tax Bill Targets the $2 Gas Fee Problem, and Delays the Harder Fights Key Takeaways The House Ways and Means Committee has released H.R. 10357, the 114-page Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, and will mark it up on September 16. Blockchain network fees under $10 would no longer create a taxable event, but wallets with more than 5,000 transfers in the prior year would not get this relief. Closing the crypto wash-sale gap would raise revenue, while deferring tax on mining and staking rewards would cost it. The deferral is the most likely provision to be cut. The bill will probably not become law in 2026. Its real purpose is to set up the 2027 Congress. Ask any American who has used Ethereum what makes crypto taxes painful, and many won’t mention their big trades. They’ll mention the small stuff. Under current rules, paying a network fee with a token counts as disposing of that token, so even a 40-cent gas payment can require a capital gain or loss calculation. For people who actually use crypto rather than just hold it, the paperwork can end up costing more than the transactions themselves. House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith’s new bill is the first serious attempt from Congress’s tax-writing committee to fix this. Why it matters The $10 fee exemption is small in dollar terms, but it removes a lot of friction. Swaps, bridges, and transfers all carry fees, so almost every active user benefits. The 5,000-transfer cutoff shows what lawmakers intend: they want to help ordinary users, not trading bots. High-frequency traders would stay under full reporting. The exemption is also narrow. It appears to cover only on-chain network fees, not exchange trading fees or spreads. Crypto payments for everyday purchases still wouldn’t be tax-free. The bill doesn’t include the broad de minimis exemption for small purchases that the industry has long wanted. Timeline June 8, 2026: Reps. Carey and Arrington introduce H.R. 9172, which would apply wash-sale rules to digital assets. June 9: Ways and Means hears testimony from Coinbase, Fidelity, Coin Center, and NYU’s Tax Law Center. September 13: Reports say Republicans are considering dropping the mining and staking deferral. September 14: The bill text is published. It draws on earlier bipartisan work by Reps. Horsford and Miller. September 15: The Senate holds its cloture vote on the CLARITY Act. September 16, 10 a.m. ET: Committee markup. The trade-off inside the bill The bill is structured as a revenue trade. Crypto traders can currently sell at a loss, buy the same asset back immediately, and still claim the deduction, which stock investors can’t do. Closing that gap is estimated to raise about $2.07 billion over a decade.