Tax Policy, Not Technology, Is Blocking Bitcoin Payments, Advocates Say

That legal reality has kept Bitcoin largely in the hands of investors rather than in everyday wallets, and a Washington advocacy group says Congress has only a few months left to fix it.

The group is pushing for a de minimis tax exemption — a rule that would allow small Bitcoin transactions under a set dollar amount to bypass capital gains reporting entirely.

Based on BPI’s own timeline, the window to pass such a measure runs from now through August 2026. After that, midterm election pressures are expected to crowd out any serious movement on complex tax legislation.

Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming has been the loudest voice in Congress on this issue. She introduced a standalone bill in July 2025 that would exempt crypto transactions of $300 or less, with a $5,000 annual cap.

The existence of two bills with different scopes has muddied the path forward, even as BPI reports that bipartisan support for some form of exemption remains intact.

Pierre Rochard, a board member at Bitcoin treasury firm Strive, put the stakes plainly:

That line cuts to the heart of what advocates are fighting. The current tax treatment effectively punishes anyone who tries to spend Bitcoin rather than hold it.

Every purchase requires tracking the asset’s value at the time of acquisition and again at the point of sale — a level of record-keeping that makes routine transactions impractical for most people.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView