The White House has endorsed an amendment to the $1 trillion
Infrastructure bill that supports proof-of-work over all other consensus
mechanisms. However, the crypto community is supporting a different
amendment.
White House Takes Stance on Infrastructure Bill’s Crypto Tax Amendment
The White House has endorsed an amendment to the Infrastructure bill
sponsored by Senators Mark Warner, Rob Portman, and Kyrsten Sinema who
drafted the original tax provision. This amendment competes with another
introduced a day prior that has gained much support from the crypto
community. It was sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden, Cynthia Lummis, and
Pat Toomey.
White House economics reporter for The Washington Post Jeff Stein tweeted late Thursday night:
White House is coming out formally in support of
Warner-Portman-Sinema crypto amendment, implicitly against the
Toomey-Wyden-Lummis plan.
Andrew Bates, the White House’s deputy press secretary, also issued a statement
Thursday night: “The Administration is pleased with the progress that
has yielded a compromise sponsored by Senators Warner, Portman, and
Sinema to advance the bipartisan infrastructure package and clarify the
measure to reduce tax evasion in the cryptocurrency market.”
The statement continues: “The Administration believes this provision
will strengthen tax compliance in this emerging area of finance and
ensure that high income taxpayers are contributing what they owe under
the law … we believe that the alternative amendment put forward by
Senators Warner, Portman, and Sinema strikes the right balance and makes
an important step forward in promoting tax compliance.”
Many people in the crypto community immediately voiced concerns about the amendment endorsed by the White House.
Jerry Brito, CEO of Coin Center, called the amendment backed by the
White House “ridiculous.” Noting that “Sen. Warner and Portman are
proposing a last-minute amendment competing with the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey
amendment,” he opined:
The White House is endorsing proof-of-work over all other
consensus mechanisms to be enshrined in law … It is disastrous. It only
excludes proof-of-work mining. And it does nothing for software devs.
Senator Toomey agreed with Brito, tweeting, “He’s right.”
Coin Center’s director of communications, Neeraj K. Agrawal,
concurred, tweeting: “The White House is choosing to support
proof-of-work over proof-of-stake, in law, in an unrelated
infrastructure bill. This is will have huge consequences for how
cryptocurrency develops in America.”
Several lawmakers have announced their support for the bipartisan Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment, including Rep. Ted Budd, Rep. Tom Emmer, and Rep. Darren Soto.
Senator Wyden tweeted in response to the endorsement by the White
House: “The Warner-Portman-Sinema amendment provides a
government-sanctioned safe harbor for the most climate-damaging form of
crypto tech, called proof-of-work. It would be a mistake for the climate
and for innovation to advance this amendment.”
He added: “My bipartisan amendment with Sen. Lummis and Sen. Toomey
will ensure Americans pay the taxes they owe on cryptocurrency while
also fostering innovation here at home. Our amendment offers a real,
commonsense solution to this very real problem.”
MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin reported
that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “has filed a motion tonight
to end debate and move toward a final vote on the bipartisan bill. The
final vote is likely on Saturday.”
source link : https://news.bitcoin.com/white-house-backs-crypto-tax-amendment-endorsing-proof-of-work-infrastructure-bill/
