United States: A plan to tax profits on crypto and stablecoins to support government spending

Gone are the days of deregulation and gray zones, the ambitious bipartisan project raises regulatory gaps in search of funds, backed by the SEC eager to introduce industry regulation. Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman clarified the points of the amendment written by him and supported by the Biden administration, which points to the obligation for digital asset brokers to report the gains obtained from trading to the Internal Revenue Service, which they will be taxed accordingly. According to current volumes, federal coffers revenue is estimated to be at least 28 billion over the course of a decade. They will serve as funds for the infrastructure plan to improve urban and extra-urban traffic, build new bridges, maintain and expand railway lines and allow all citizens to access broadband, both with new infrastructure and with economic subsidies for devices and bills for less well-off families – a measure introduced during the pandemic and which seems destined to remain. The plan has a large number of funding sources. There are 200 billion already allocated in aid for the post-coronavirus recovery, 50 would arrive by postponing the application of discounts on health coverage wanted by Trump, another tens of billions by sifting the unemployment funds not used by various states. A return of economic growth is also expected generated by the driving force of public spending, the sales of wireless space for the new and improved broadband and then the revenues generated, in fact, from the communication obligation for cryptocurrency trading. Not a striking figure, but important and not negligible in a spending plan which, contrary to what was initially announced, will expand the federal deficit by 256 billion over a decade. And it is also a very clear signal that the new administration wants to put a hand once and for all to the regulation of a sector that in recent years has grown exponentially and without rules from above. The reaction from the crypto world was not long in coming: there is talk of a provision that is too broad, not very detailed, which risks also including mining revenues and discouraging or blocking innovation in the sector. intervened on the matter with very strong statements on the need for a regulatory framework for crypto and stablecoins. “I’m neutral and also intrigued about the underlying technology,” he said, “but I’m not neutral about investor protection.” And he also announced that the SEC, within the powers it currently has at its disposal, will intervene in the most timely manner possible with regard to the cryptocurrency market, in the meantime asking for more freedom of action and more resources from Congress. Sencler’s intention is to be increasingly active in regulating exchanges to prevent “fraud and abuse” which at the moment, again in the words of the SEC president, make this market a “Wild West” for investors.

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