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US lawmakers on Friday unveiled the Digital Asset PARITY Act — a wide‑ranging draft bill that would reshape tax and regulatory treatment for digital assets while drawing immediate criticism for excluding Bitcoin (BTC).
Introduced by Representatives Max Miller and Steven Horsford, the measure would, among other changes, create a narrow tax exemption for small stablecoin transactions and alter how staking income is treated.
Key PARITY Act Provisions
Under the PARITY proposal, regulated payment stablecoins used in transactions worth less than $200 would be exempt from recognizing gains or losses, provided the stablecoin’s price remains within 1% of its dollar peg at the time of payment.
The bill also contains several other notable provisions, on staking for example, as it seeks to change the tax timing for income earned by passive participants in proof‑of‑stake (PoS) networks, permitting those “passive stakers” to defer the immediate tax consequences of staking rewards.
Yet the bill’s approach to staking and mining has become a focal point for criticism. The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) has been one of the most vocal opponents, arguing that PARITY’s staking deferral provisions create an uneven, technology‑biased tax regime that disadvantages proof‑of‑work (PoW) networks such as Bitcoin.
BPI Objection Over Bitcoin Exclusion
The Bitcoin Policy Institute contends the draft perpetuates the “phantom income” problem that both miners and stakers previously acknowledged needed legislative relief, but solves it only for stakers.
The organization warned that by offering deferral to staking participants while leaving miners outside the relief, the bill effectively penalizes mining and undermines technological neutrality.
BPI called the imbalance “a two‑tier tax regime,” and urged lawmakers to remedy it by restoring a broader de minimis exemption that is not limited to stablecoins and by extending the deferral election to all block‑reward recipients — miners as well as stakers — or otherwise explicitly including mining in the relief.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute argued these fixes are minimal but necessary steps if Congress truly intends to maintain US leadership in Bitcoin and digital asset innovation. Left unchanged, the group warned, the draft could disadvantage proof‑of‑work systems and shift innovation offshore.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at roughly $66,000, representing a 4% and almost 6% loss in the 24-hour and seven-day time frames, respectively, as the broader crypto market wraps up the week to the downside.
Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
