U.S. House Committee Advances Effort to Erase IRS’ DeFi Tax Rule

The U.S. House of Representatives has taken the first significant move to erase the work of the Internal Revenue Service to impose a tax regime on decentralized financial (DeFi) platforms in the final days of former President Joe Biden's administration. The House Ways and Means Committee — the panel responsible for overseeing the Treasury Department's IRS — advanced a resolution in a 26-16 vote to reverse the IRS transaction-reporting policy under the Congressional Review Act. Such an effort requires majority approval in both the House and Senate before a presidential signature would make the move final, and the matter now moves to the overall House. Story continues In December, the IRS had approved a system that the crypto industry says forces DeFi protocols into a reporting regime designed for brokers, threatening the way that such protocols work and also potentially including a wide range of entities that aren't brokers at all. Nearly every major name in the crypto sector signed onto a Blockchain Association letter last week calling for the elimination of this rule. Read More: Crypto Industry Asks Congress to Scrap IRS's DeFi Broker Rule Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, has fielded a Senate version of the CRA resolution to cut the IRS rule. "We must pass this resolution to avoid this nightmare for American taxpayers and for the IRS," said Rep. Mike Carey, an Ohio Republican who has pressed for Congress to cut to rule, which he argued would overwhelm the tax agency. Democrat Rep. Richard Neal from Massachusetts countered the Republican push. "The bill before us today would repeal sensible and important Treasury regulations ensuring that taxpayers meet their tax filing obligations and do not skirt the law by selling crypto currency without reporting the gains," he said. "It's really that simple." Eliminating the specific tax approach to decentralized crypto platforms would cut U.S. revenue by an estimated $3.9 billion over a decade. Rep. Jason Smith, the Republican chairman of the committee from Missouri, accused the IRS of going behind "the letter of the law" when it approved the rule during Biden's final days in office. "Not only is it unfair, but it's unworkable," he said.

The U.S. House of Representatives has taken the first significant move to erase the work of the Internal Revenue Service to impose a tax regime on decentralized financial (DeFi) platforms in the final days of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

The House Ways and Means Committee — the panel responsible for overseeing the Treasury Department’s IRS — advanced a resolution in a 26-16 vote to reverse the IRS transaction-reporting policy under the Congressional Review Act. Such an effort requires majority approval in both the House and Senate before a presidential signature would make the move final, and the matter now moves to the overall House.

Story continues

In December, the IRS had approved a system that the crypto industry says forces DeFi protocols into a reporting regime designed for brokers, threatening the way that such protocols work and also potentially including a wide range of entities that aren’t brokers at all. Nearly every major name in the crypto sector signed onto a Blockchain Association letter last week calling for the elimination of this rule.

Read More: Crypto Industry Asks Congress to Scrap IRS’s DeFi Broker Rule

Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, has fielded a Senate version of the CRA resolution to cut the IRS rule.

“We must pass this resolution to avoid this nightmare for American taxpayers and for the IRS,” said Rep. Mike Carey, an Ohio Republican who has pressed for Congress to cut to rule, which he argued would overwhelm the tax agency.

Democrat Rep. Richard Neal from Massachusetts countered the Republican push.

“The bill before us today would repeal sensible and important Treasury regulations ensuring that taxpayers meet their tax filing obligations and do not skirt the law by selling crypto currency without reporting the gains,” he said. “It’s really that simple.”

Eliminating the specific tax approach to decentralized crypto platforms would cut U.S. revenue by an estimated $3.9 billion over a decade.

Rep. Jason Smith, the Republican chairman of the committee from Missouri, accused the IRS of going behind “the letter of the law” when it approved the rule during Biden’s final days in office.

“Not only is it unfair, but it’s unworkable,” he said.

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Tether Finalizes Buying 70% of Adecoagro Stake, Securing Tokenization Ambition

Tether, the issuer behind the nearly $150 billion USDT stablecoin, has finalized the purchase of a 70% stake in the Latin American agricultural firm Adecoagro (AGRO), which has a market cap of nearly a billion dollars.
Tether initially invested $100 million in Adecoagro in September 2024 for a 9.8% stake, then offered to increase it to 51% in February, and finally raised it to control 70% in March.

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Read more: Tether’s $100M Investment in LatAm Agriculture Firm May Be a Tokenization Play
This majority stake gives Tether control over one of the region’s most prominent food and bioenergy producers. Adecoagro owns sugar mills, rice farms, dairy operations, and renewable energy assets across Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.
Tether said it aims to help scale Adecoagro’s output while aligning the company with its mission of fostering “economic freedom” through decentralized finance and investment in underserved markets.

The move might be part of Tether’s ambition to tokenize real-world assets, as it launched its asset tokenization service Hadron last year. The platform was designed to simplify the process of converting a wide range of real-world assets, including bonds, commodities, stocks, other stablecoins, and loyalty points into digital tokens on blockchain rails.
Read more: Tether Unveils New Platform to Simplify Asset Tokenization for Businesses, Nation-States
“By aligning with in Adecoagro’s proven expertise in agriculture and renewable energy, we are taking another concrete step toward bridging traditional industries with the future of decentralized finance and economic empowerment,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.
Following the deal, Adecoagro’s board was also reshuffled. Five members stepped down and were replaced by executives tied to Tether and its strategic goals. Juan Sartori, a Uruguayan businessman with political and agricultural interests, took over as chairman.
In the past year, Tether has launched ventures in bitcoin mining, AI, and encrypted communications. AGRO’s shares were up 2.6% on Wednesday.
Read more: Tether’s $100M Investment in LatAm Agriculture Firm May Be a Tokenization Play
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

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Alberta Leader Smith Lashes Out at Liberals, Wants New Deal

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith challenged Mark Carney to strike a better deal for her oil-rich province, saying she would not allow the “status quo” to prevail in its relationship with the federal government.

While congratulating the Liberal prime minister on his election victory, Smith said a large number of Albertans are deeply frustrated that a government that “overtly attacked” her province’s economy has been returned to power. 

“I invite the prime minister to immediately commence working with our government to reset the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta with meaningful action rather than hollow rhetoric,” she said in a statement.

“Albertans are proud Canadians that want this nation to be strong, prosperous and united, but we will no longer tolerate having our industries threatened and our resources landlocked by Ottawa.”

Alberta has been in conflict with Canada’s Liberal government since Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, was elected in 2015 and began rolling out environmental policies, including an emissions cap, new pipeline regulations and a ban on tankers off the northern British Columbia coast. Smith says those measures encroach on the province’s jurisdiction and hamper oil and gas development. 

The growing hostility has prompted some Albertans to call for greater autonomy from the federal government, and even fueled a small but simmering secession movement. 

The Alberta government will hold a caucus meeting on Friday to discuss the province’s future within a united Canada, Smith said. 

‘Pivotal Moment’

Carney said in his victory speech early Tuesday that he intends to govern for all Canadians. He has pledged to turn the country into a “superpower” in both clean and conventional energy, and said it needs to produce more oil while reducing the associated emissions.

“My optimistic view is a Carney win is status quo for a sector that’s dealt with significant challenges over the past 10 years,” Eric Nuttall, senior portfolio manager at Ninepoint Partners in Toronto, said on BNN Bloomberg Television. 

He said Carney’s apparent reluctance to repeal the environmental assessment law known as Bill C-69 means “no oil pipelines.” 

“So for our Canadian energy sector, at least in the oil sector, they’ll be required to remain as disciplined in returning that free cash flow back to shareholders in the form of share buybacks because there will be nothing left to do with it.”

Lisa Baiton, chief executive officer of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said she was encouraged by the tone set by the two leading parties throughout the election campaign on the importance of oil and gas to the country’s economy.

“Canada stands at a pivotal moment in its history — caught in a trade war with our closest trading partner and facing direct challenges to our sovereignty from the president of the United States,” she said in a statement. 

“Developing our world-class oil and natural gas resources to their full potential by growing our exports to international markets will strengthen our energy security and economic sovereignty.”

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