Crypto: Bitcoin Payments Held Back By Tax Policy, Not Scaling Tech: Crypto...

Crypto sales are taxable under current United States policy, but lawmakers have proposed tax exemptions for small transactions.

The biggest obstacle to Bitcoin (BTC) being used as a payment method is tax policy, not scaling technology that reduces settlement times and transaction costs, according to Pierre Rochard, a board member for Bitcoin treasury company Strive.

“Here’s a metaphor: the best athlete can win against the worst athlete 100% of the time, if the best athlete plays. It drops to 0% if he doesn’t play and lets the weak athlete win,” Rochard said about BTC’s current lack of use as a method of payment.

In December 2025, the Bitcoin Policy Institute, a non-profit policy advocacy organization, sounded the alarm on the lack of a de minimis tax exemption for small Bitcoin transactions.

The lack of a de minimis tax exemption means that every time BTC is transferred to another party for payment, it is subject to taxes, hindering its use as a medium of exchange.

US lawmakers are considering limiting the de minimis tax exemption to overcollateralized dollar-pegged stablecoins, which are tokenized US dollars, backed 1:1 by fiat cash deposits or short-term government securities, which sparked backlash from Bitcoiners.

Related: Netherlands risks capital flight with unrealized gains tax on stocks, crypto

In July 2025, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, an ally of the crypto industry, introduced a bill proposing a de minimis tax exemption on digital asset transactions of $300 or less.

The bill placed a $5,000 annual limit on exemptions and also included provisions to exempt cryptocurrencies used for charitable donations.

Lummis’ bill proposed deferring income from staking crypto to secure proof-of-stake blockchain networks or income earned from mining proof-of-work cryptocurrencies until those assets were sold.

Source: CoinTelegraph