Infrastructure Plan | U.S. Treasury: IRS has no plans to classify miners, wallet providers, and DeFi developers as brokers

According to media outlet The Block, the U.S. Treasury Department has confirmed to six senators that it has no intention of including miners, wallet providers, and DeFi engineers in the broker definition related to the infrastructure bill. This could potentially exempt industry players from the KYC pressure to comply with tax regulations.

U.S. Treasury Ensures Some Entities Are Not Considered Brokers

On February 11th, six senators wrote to the Treasury Department expressing concerns about existing regulations that require brokers to report the business activities of market participants and obtain taxpayer information. This regulation caused a stir in the U.S. industry last year, with many worried that the infrastructure bill's tax provision could compromise the privacy of cryptocurrencies. There were concerns that certain industry players, like miners, would face technical impossibilities in verifying interactions in every transaction, leading to regulatory implications on the industry.

In response, the Treasury Department stated that they share this viewpoint. They do not intend to consider those who cannot provide auxiliary information helpful to the IRS as brokers. For example, those who only validate transactions through consensus mechanisms are unlikely to know which transactions are part of security sales. Those who sell storage devices for private keys or write software code without engaging in broker activities are also not considered brokers.