TLDR
The US House Ways and Means Committee is moving a crypto tax bill that would stop taxing many blockchain fees of $10 or less.
- The Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act would create a de minimis exemption for qualifying crypto network or transaction fees of $10 or less, with high-activity wallets excluded.
- The same bill would tax mining and staking rewards as ordinary income, extend wash-sale rules to digital assets, and adjust stablecoin and lending treatment, with key changes starting in 2028.
- The proposal is only at committee markup and is unlikely to become law quickly, so US crypto tax rules remain unchanged for now.
Deep Dive
1. What The $10 Exemption Actually Covers
House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith has introduced the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act (H.R. 10357), a 114-page crypto tax package now scheduled for markup in committee at 10 a.m. ET on September 16. Reports from outlets like Yahoo Finance and Decrypt describe a de minimis exemption where paying qualifying network or transaction fees in crypto would not trigger capital gains or losses if the fee is $10 or less.
Coverage from CoinDesk and Crypto.news says the carve-out excludes users with more than 5,000 transfers in the prior year, aimed at everyday users rather than high-frequency traders. Importantly, the exemption applies to fees, not to the full value of a purchase made in crypto, which would still be treated as a taxable disposal under current IRS property rules.
If enacted, routine gas or small on-chain fees under $10 could stop being a tax-reporting headache, but spending crypto on goods or larger payments would still create taxable events.
2. Other Big Crypto Tax Changes In The Bill
Beyond the $10 fee rule, the bill is a broader attempt to standardize digital asset taxation. Analyses from The Block and Cointelegraph highlight several key pieces:
- Mining and staking rewards are explicitly classified as ordinary income, with earlier ideas to defer tax until sale dropped from the package.
- Wash-sale and constructive-sale rules, which currently apply to securities, would extend to most digital assets, limiting tax-loss harvesting strategies.
- Qualifying dollar-pegged stablecoins would use redemption value near $1 as tax basis, and certain crypto lending arrangements would avoid being treated as taxable sales.
Several articles note that the de minimis fee exemption and simplified annual accounting for widely traded assets would not start until 2028, even if the bill passes.
3. Legislative Status And What To Watch
Right now, the measure is at the committee markup stage, where members debate, amend, and vote on whether to advance it to the full House. Coverage from Bitcoin.com and CoinDesk stresses that floor time in 2026 is limited and that the bill is considered unlikely to become law this year.
To take effect, H.R. 10357 would still need to pass the full House, clear the Senate, and be signed by the President, and provisions like the $10 exemption have plenty of room to be changed or removed. In parallel, the Senate is wrestling with broader market-structure legislation (the CLARITY Act), adding to the overall uncertainty.
For US crypto users, this is a promising sign that Congress is engaging with practical tax issues, but it is still only a proposal. Until any bill is enacted, current IRS rules continue to apply, and small crypto fees are generally treated as taxable.
Conclusion
The $10 crypto tax exemption headline refers to a targeted de minimis rule for small on-chain fees inside a wider House bill that also locks in ordinary-income treatment for mining and staking and tightens loss rules for traders. If it eventually passes, it would slightly lower friction for everyday crypto use, but the broader tax framework remains relatively strict, and the legislative path is long and uncertain.
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