An American blow to the digital currency market

The US Treasury Department has established new principles requiring cryptocurrency brokers to report their users' digital asset sales and exchanges to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Announced on Friday, these come as a follow-up to the bipartisan $1 trillion Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Act of 2021, which projected the new guidance would generate about $28 billion over the next 10 years.

Starting next year, these reporting requirements will be phased in, and will apply to the 2026 tax filing season. The Treasury's move aims to align tax reporting for cryptocurrencies with existing standards for other financial instruments, such as bonds and stocks. The final version of the rules has been modified from its initial proposal to reduce the burden on intermediaries and introduce changes gradually.