On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution to overturn an Internal Revenue Service rule requiring brokers to report gross proceeds from digital asset sales, delivering a significant victory for President Donald Trump’s administration and crypto industry advocates.
The measure, introduced under the Congressional Review Act, passed in a 70-27 vote, with Republicans largely united against the rule and many Democrats crossing the aisle in support.
It’s “absolutely mind-blowing” how many Democrats were willing to overturn a rule issued in the Biden Administration, Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, a Washington-based crypto lobbying group, told Decrypt.
The resolution now awaits a parallel version to advance in the House which must pass a floor vote before heading to Trump’s desk for final approval.
The IRS rule, finalized in December 2024 during the final weeks of the Biden administration, significantly expanded the definition of a “broker” to include decentralized finance protocols.
Industry critics argued the measure would impose impossible compliance burdens on permissionless financial systems, force DeFi protocols to register as traditional financial brokers, and require all U.S. DeFi users to tie their on-chain addresses to their identities.
“Today marks the first of many historic milestones in the regulation of digital assets in the United States in this next chapter—as we move towards the enactment of the first standalone crypto legislation,” a spokesperson for the DeFi Education Fund, another D.C.-based crypto lobbying group told Decrypt.
“The DeFi Education Fund applauds the bipartisan supermajority of Senators who recognized the need to push back against regulatory overreach to protect Americans’ freedom to choose how they transact and American innovation.”
The Trump administration formally backed the repeal effort on Tuesday, with David Sacks, Trump’s crypto policy chief, saying the White House “strongly supports” the resolution.
“This rule, issued as a midnight regulation in the final days of the previous administration, would stifle American innovation and raise privacy concerns over the sharing of taxpayers’ personal information, while imposing an unprecedented compliance burden on American DeFi companies,” Sacks said in a statement.
Sander Lutz contributed to reporting.
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