Crypto Tax Bill Targets Unrealized Gain Problem in Mining and Staking

The Blockchain Association and three allied trade groups formally pushed the House Ways and Means Committee on June 21 to advance H.R. 9175, the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Mike Carey on June 8, would let miners and stakers defer taxes on newly created digital assets until they sell them.

Under current IRS guidance, mining and staking rewards count as gross income the moment the taxpayer controls them. A staker who receives tokens worth $10 each owes tax on that $10 value immediately. If the token price later drops to $2 before any sale, the taxpayer has paid tax on income that never materialized. A capital loss on the eventual sale only partly offsets the cash flow problem.

The bill ends that mismatch by deferring income recognition until the assets are sold or disposed of. At sale, the rewards are taxed as ordinary income. The legislation treats newly minted tokens as “self-created property,” the same way US tax law handles a farmer’s crop or a writer’s manuscript.

A separate provision protects grantor trusts that engage in staking. Many institutional investment vehicles use this legal structure, and uncertainty around how staking affects tax status creates a barrier for allocators weighing staking as a yield strategy. The bill explicitly shields those trusts from complications.