By Keelin Ferris

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill awaiting a presidential signature is primed to land a serious blow to the crypto industry. Stricter oversight on digital asset trading has been a goal for the Biden administration. Thanks to a controversial cryptocurrency tax rule buried in the bill, they’re going to get it.

The bill will require “cryptocurrency brokers” who regularly provide a service that conducts transfers of digital assets, such as bitcoin or ether, to report all transactions to the International Revenue Service. Such tax provisions will raise $28 billion over ten years to fund the infrastructure deal, according to the joint committee on taxation.

Who or what exactly is considered a “broker” is what the IRS will have to answer – and that’s what has digital currency advocates up in arms. The extremely broad category could include crypto miners, hardware manufacturers, software developers, and other parties who do not actually facilitate transactions directly.

Two attempts to adjust the language died in the Senate and were ignored by lawmakers in August.

Jail Time!

The tax code passed in 1984, which cracked down on money laundering, will be amended following the president’s signature to include digital asset transactions. The law states that any person engaged in a “trade or business transaction” who received more than $10,000 in cash must report details about the sender to the IRS. That law will now include not just cash transactions, but crypto exchanges as well. All violations will result in mandatory fines and may bring up to five years in prison.