- The much-criticised crypto element of the U.S. Infrastructure Bill has received a key amendment just before it gets voted on
- Three senators now support the amendment which excludes miners, wallet makers and developers from impossible reporting restrictions
- The Infrastructure Bill in its original form would have crippled the U.S. crypto industry
An amendment to the much-criticised U.S. Infrastructure Bill that excludes blockchain validators, cryptocurrency wallet makers and others from being classed as brokers has been introduced following days of hard work from crypto advocates. Coin Center CEO Jerry Brito informed the crypto world of the good news yesterday, which followed almost a week of back and forth with sympathetic senators trying to amend the wording of the bill which, in its original state, would have castrated the U.S. crypto industry.
Infrastructure Bill Finally Gets Key Amendment
The new element of the Infrastructure Bill sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency industry when it was announced last week, which placed impossible reporting requirements on crypto miners, wallet makers and operators, and almost anyone handling other people’s cryptocurrency in any way. A phalanx of critics, including Brito and DeFi Alliance head Jake Chervinsky, have been working tirelessly to drastically improve the wording of the Infrastructure Bill, and, after several slight improvements and false starts, a compromise seems to have been found:
I’m thrilled to say that @RonWyden @CynthiaMLummis and @SenToomey have introduced an amendment to explicitly exclude validators, hardware and software wallet makers, and protocol devs from the tax reporting provisions. Bravo! Now we have to get this thing passed. pic.twitter.com/0mpyNzxXee
— Jerry Brito (@jerrybrito) August 4, 2021
The amendment states that “any person solely engaged in” one of three practices should be excluded from being classified as a broker – someone validating distributed ledger transactions, sellers or operators of cryptocurrency wallets which give the seller their private keys, and developers who are not making apps for specific customers.
This amendment was supported by Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey, with Square adding their name to an open letter that supporting the amendment:
Joint statement in support of the @RonWyden @CynthiaMLummis @SenToomey amendment that explicitly excludes validators, hardware and software wallet makers, and protocol devs from the expanded definition of a broker. pic.twitter.com/rXE4GYUh2A
— Coin Center (@coincenter) August 4, 2021
Lummis’ Involvement Helps Push Amendment Over the Line
As we reported yesterday, senators Toomey and Wyden were already on board with the amendment to the Infrastructure Bill, and it seems that Lummis’ involvement was key in giving the amendment the strength it needed to be pushed forward. The rush to get the amendment in this week is because the Senate will likely vote on the bill this week before it heads to recess this weekend. The key now is to get the amendment passed in it’s current state, which is not a given by any means.
