Key Takeaways
- Two House committees advanced major crypto bills Wednesday, covering a federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the taxation of digital assets.
- The Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act passed the House Ways and Means Committee 38-5, with provisions covering transaction fees, mining, staking, and wash-sale rules.
- The moves came one day after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, showing that other parts of Congress’s crypto agenda remain active despite that setback.
Two major crypto bills moved forward in the US House on Wednesday, giving Washington’s digital-asset agenda fresh momentum just one day after the Senate blocked the CLARITY Act.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted 38-5 to advance the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, a sweeping package designed to rewrite how cryptocurrencies are treated under federal tax law. Separately, the House Financial Services Committee advanced legislation to place the federal government’s Bitcoin holdings into a statutory Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Neither measure is law yet. Both still face additional votes in Congress.
Their committee’s progress nevertheless opens two new fronts in the US crypto debate: whether Washington should hold Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset and how Americans should be taxed on mining, staking, trading, or spending digital assets.
Bitcoin Reserve Moves Beyond a White House Policy
The American Reserve Modernization Act, H.R. 8957, would establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile within the Treasury Department.
The reserve would house federally held Bitcoin obtained primarily through criminal and civil forfeiture, while other government-owned digital assets would be kept separately. House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill described the proposal as a way to bring crypto holdings scattered across federal agencies under consistent Treasury custody and oversight.
The legislation is significant because the reserve concept currently rests on executive action.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and directing the government to retain certain forfeited Bitcoin rather than sell it. H.R. 8957 would put the reserve into federal statute, making its legal basis less dependent on the policy of a particular administration.
The proposal has also included restrictions intended to treat the government’s Bitcoin as a long-term holding rather than an actively traded asset. Committee materials included a substitute amendment to H.R. 8957 as lawmakers considered the final language Wednesday.
The legislation was introduced by Alaska Republican Rep. Nick Begich. It had 23 cosponsors going into Wednesday’s committee consideration, although support within the Financial Services Committee itself was heavily Republican.
House Advances First Broad Crypto Tax Framework
The tax package could have more immediate consequences for everyday crypto users.
The Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, H.R. 10357, would establish federal rules covering mining, staking, transaction fees, reporting requirements, and the treatment of digital assets under rules already applied to traditional investments.
One provision would provide an exception for certain crypto network or transaction fees of $10 or less, reducing the tax burden associated with small blockchain transactions.
The bill would also bring digital assets under wash-sale rules. Those rules generally prevent investors from selling an asset at a loss to claim a tax benefit and immediately buying back substantially the same investment.
Mining and staking rewards would be treated as ordinary income under the proposal, although lawmakers are still debating when that income should be recognized for tax purposes.
The 38-5 committee vote gave the legislation bipartisan support, though not every lawmaker agreed with the package. Some Democrats argued that portions of the bill amount to tax benefits for wealthy crypto investors and the industry.
Crypto’s Washington Push Isn’t Over After CLARITY
Wednesday’s votes came less than 24 hours after a much larger crypto bill ran into trouble across the Capitol.
The Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act in a 49-50 procedural vote, short of the 60 votes required to move forward. The legislation sought to establish a broader regulatory framework for digital assets and clarify the respective roles of the SEC and CFTC.
The defeat exposed disagreements over issues including ethics provisions and stablecoin-related competition with banks.
The House action shows that those disputes have not stopped narrower crypto legislation from moving through Congress.
The Bitcoin reserve bill addresses government-held assets, while the tax package tackles questions that have persisted for years about how existing tax law applies to blockchain transactions.
Both measures still have a long route ahead. Committee approval advances legislation; it does not guarantee a House floor vote, Senate passage, or presidential signature.
The House is also expected to leave Washington ahead of the November elections, meaning the tax legislation could slip into the post-election lame-duck session.
For crypto policy, Washington is therefore moving on two tracks: the Senate’s attempt at comprehensive market-structure legislation has stalled, while more targeted proposals covering Bitcoin reserves and crypto taxes are still advancing.
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Dr. Guneet Kaur is a senior editor at CCN.com and a Science Fellow at Exponential Science. She is a fintech and blockchain expert with extensive experience in digital finance education, blockchain ecosystems, and cryptocurrency markets. She has worked with global media such as Cointelegraph, as well as education and blockchain platforms, to design and lead strategic content and learning initiatives. As an educator and assessor for top-tier executive programs, she bridges real-world fintech trends with academic insight.
Dr. Kaur is also a published researcher and peer reviewer across fintech and data science journals, including Financial Innovation Journal and International Journal of Big Data Intelligence and Applications. Her work spans data-driven analysis, Web3 innovation, and technical content development. With a strong foundation in both industry and academia, she translates complex financial technologies into practical applications, empowering learners, professionals, and institutions across the rapidly evolving digital finance landscape.
