- Marty Bent alleged that Coinbase lobbied to limit de minimis tax relief to stablecoins.
- Coinbase executives publicly denied the allegation and reiterated support for relief across digital assets.
- A draft Parity Act would restrict the exemption to regulated payment stablecoins, excluding Bitcoin.
- Multiple competing proposals on Capitol Hill are shaping the debate over de minimis and other exemptions.
Congress is moving toward an exemption from crypto taxes. The question is who it covers.
A bipartisan discussion draft from Representatives Max Miller (R-OH) and Steven Horsford (D-NV), circulating on Capitol Hill since December, would waive capital gains reporting on stablecoin transactions under $200, provided the tokens are dollar-pegged and issued by entities compliant with the GENIUS Act, signed into law last July. Bitcoin isn’t included. That omission has sparked a lobbying dispute that has now reached the country’s largest crypto exchange.
Coinbase in the Crossfire
Ten31 managing partner Marty Bent alleged this week that Coinbase lobbyists visited congressional offices and argued that Bitcoin is not money, pressing instead for a stablecoin-only exemption that would benefit USDC, a token co-issued with Circle, from which Coinbase earns reserve revenue. Bent cited three sources close to the discussions.
Coinbase pushed back immediately. Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad called the account “a total lie,” insisting the company has pushed for tax relief covering all digital assets since 2017. Block CEO Jack Dorsey publicly questioned Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong about the allegation; Armstrong flatly denied it. Neither Dorsey nor any independent source has since produced documentation supporting Bent’s version of events.
The conflict illustrates a dynamic that crypto tax attorney Jason Schwartz described in blunt terms: companies lobby for whichever provisions align with their business model, not necessarily against everything else.
A Diverging Legislative Landscape
The Miller-Horsford draft has a Senate counterpart that reads very differently. Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced S.2207 last July with a $300-per-transaction threshold and a $5,000 annual cap, and that version explicitly includes Bitcoin alongside stablecoins. The shift toward stablecoin-only language in the House draft represents a notable departure from the original bipartisan framework.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute has met with 19 congressional offices in recent months, arguing that a stablecoin-only carve-out leaves Bitcoin payments fully taxable and that network fees, paid in Bitcoin even on otherwise exempt stablecoin transactions, would still trigger reporting obligations.
The group is pushing for a value-based threshold of up to $600 per transaction, with an annual cap of about $20,000.
Neither bill has advanced out of committee. Miller has said he expects broader legislation to move before August 2026. Whether Bitcoin retains any footing in the final text will depend on which competing interests prove more persuasive as that deadline approaches.
READ MORE: Bitcoin Price Target if Crude Oil Price Jumps to $200 as Iran Predicts
