A “disastrous” amendment supported by President Biden and put forward by Republican Senator Rob Portman (OH) and Democrat Senator Mark Warner (VA) might crush the cryptocurrency industry, industry officials and lawmakers say.
Republican Senator Rob Portman (OH) proposed the $30 billion “pay for” in the $1.2 trillion alleged “bipartisan” bill. The measure has an overly large definition of a “broker” that many people say could harm innovation and send American jobs to other nations.
To address the issues surrounding Portman’s proposal, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis (WY) and Democrat Senator Ron Wyden (OR) proposed the amendment that would deal with the concerns by requiring that miners, who maintain the crypto networks, and the creators of the hardware and software used to self-custody digital assets, do not have to abide by IRS reporting requirements.
Republican Senator Pat Toomey (PA), the top member of the Senate’s Banking Committee, also supported the Lummis-Wyden ammendment.
However, despite the crypto industry’s strong backing for the Lummis-Wyden-Toomey amendment, Warner and Portman proposed a different amendment that would deal with all issues with Portman’s initial measure.
Jerry Brito, the current director of the crypto think tank Coin Center, stated that the Warner-Portman amendment was “disastrous” and would not exclude software programmers from brokerage reporting:
Wow. Sen. Warner and Portman are proposing a last minute amendment competing with the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment. It is a disastrous. It only excludes proof-of-work mining. And it does nothing for software devs. Ridiculous!
Here is all it excludes: pic.twitter.com/FA7K6NU2s0
— Jerry Brito (@jerrybrito) August 5, 2021
Brito said that the Warner-Portman amendment would only exclude proof-of-work mining, which is used for the mining of Bitcoin, and not mining known as proof-of-stake, which is used for mining Ethereum. Ethereum is the current second most comment cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.
Senators need to vote YES on Wyden-Lummis-Toomey, vote NO on Warner-Portman.
— Jerry Brito (@jerrybrito) August 5, 2021
The Blockchain Association also stressed that the amendment would come up against the Lummis-Wyden amendment and thereby split the overall support for Lummis-Wyden:
🚨URGENT. Senators Warner and Portman are proposing a last-minute amendment competing with the @RonWyden–@SenLummis–@SenToomey amendment which would be disastrous for the US #crypto ecosystem. Save #crypto. Vote YES on Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment.
— Blockchain Association (@BlockchainAssn) August 6, 2021
Toomey said he agreed that the Portman-Warner amendment was “disastrous” for the cryptocurrency industry.
“He’s right,” Toomey stated about Brito’s comments.
He’s right. https://t.co/RwT2eU7Sc2
— Senator Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) August 6, 2021
The Biden Admin. announced they would be supporting the Portman-Warner amendment over the crypto insider favored Lummis-Wyden amendment:
Late breaking – White House is coming out formally in support of Warner-Portman-Sinema crypto amendment, implicitly against the Toomey-Wyden-Lummis plan
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) August 6, 2021
Republican Congressmen Ted Budd (NC), Warren Davidson (OH), Tom Emmer (MN), Darren Soto (FL), William Timmons (SC), and Anthony Gonzalez (OH) urged their fellow lawmakers to stop the Lummis-Wyden-Toomey amendment to “guarantee innovation thrives in America.”
We want the next generation of digital banking to built right here in the USA, not pushed overseas.
The amendment from @SenLummis, @SenToomey, & @RonWyden is a positive step to ensure innovation continues to thrive in America. #Crypto #cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/sPAYoKxEck
— Congressman Ted Budd (@RepTedBudd) August 5, 2021
Do what you say you’re going to do. Our amendment protects miners as well as hardware and software developers. The other does not. The choice is clear. https://t.co/111GtGz7C0
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) August 6, 2021
Author: Steven Sinclaire
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