Coinbase’s tax VP Lawrence Zlatkin dropped by the House Ways and Means Committee on June 9 to plead with lawmakers to quit forcing Americans to track capital gains on every stablecoin spend or blockchain fee 😈
His words landed during a big hearing on six bills meant to refresh the US tax code for digital assets, touching mining, staking, donations and broker rules.
Coinbase Presses for Simpler Crypto Tax Rules
Before the session the committee flagged they wanted “clarity, parity, and administrability” for crypto. Zlatkin told legislators the current rules drown people in paperwork for tiny gains on routine moves here.
Federally backed stablecoins should count the same as cash under tax law since they hold that exact one-to-one peg to the dollar 🖤 He pointed out the busywork of recalculating cost basis on every spend brings zero real revenue anyway. He backed Congressman Rudy Yakym’s idea to wave off reporting on gas fees under $10.
A wider de minimis break for small crypto buys would also help so low-value BTC transactions wouldn’t trigger taxable gain math each time. Back in March Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shut down claims he was against a Bitcoin de minimis exemption calling them “totally false” while noting he had pushed for the rule himself.
On staking and mining the exchange cheered Congressman Mike Carey’s bill letting validators skip tax until they actually sell rewards instead of at receipt. “A farmer is never taxed when a bushel of wheat sprouts from the ground; they are taxed when they harvest that crop, bring it to market, and execute a sale,” Zlatkin explained with that sharp little edge.
The Wash-Sale Question
He doubled down on Coinbase wanting wash-sale rules applied to crypto too but flagged the real headache: nonstop 24/7 trading across exchanges, pools and wallets with zero shared data layer to catch violations live. Before any new rules hit he asked for at least 18 to 24 months to build the needed software so audits don’t explode from bad reporting.
Just another echo from the void by iconofsin.eth 💖
