Sen. Cynthia Lummis said US lawmakers are actively exploring how Bitcoin can be used for everyday payments without automatically triggering capital gains tax, citing the issue as a major obstacle to managing the asset as a true form of exchange.
Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box on March 5, the Wyoming Republican said that discussions are ongoing in the House and Senate regarding the possible release of deminimis, and the number is currently considered to be “around $300.”
Congress Eyes Tax-Free Bitcoin Payments
Lummis described that limit as only part of a broader tax problem. The big question, he suggested, is not just where to stop the small transaction exemption, but how Congress should distinguish between the disposal of Bitcoin as an investment asset and the use of Bitcoin as currency.
“It’s called a de minimis exemption. And the number that House Ways and Means and Senate Finance is looking at is probably about $300 as a de minimis exemption,” Lummis said, then added:
“But the challenge is trying to figure out how to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange without paying capital gains tax on it. So we’re trying to find a way to measure the right way to decide when to sell, for example, Bitcoin should be subject to capital gains and when it should be allowed to be used as a simple form of exchange. The same way we use the US dollar.”
That distinction is important. Under the current framework, the use of valued Bitcoin can constitute a taxable event, even if the transaction looks economically similar to a normal purchase made in dollars. For crypto advocates, that has long been one of the main reasons that Bitcoin has struggled to function cleanly as a means of payments in the US, despite its growing acceptance as a store of value and institutional asset.
The exchange on CNBC made it clear that Lummis sees the issue less as a niche crypto tax tweak and more as a structural disagreement on how digital assets are treated. When host Joe Kernen joked that, by analogy, consumers should be able to claim losses as the dollar gradually loses purchasing power, Lummis agreed and leaned into the comparison.
“It is because by design the US dollar loses value by 2% or more every year,” he said. “So you’re right. If we did the same thing with the US dollar, all the taxpayers would lose money every year.”
However, Lummis did not outline the final legal approach, nor did he demand that a consensus be reached.
At press time, Bitcoin traded at $70,786.
The featured image was created with DALL.E, a chart from TradingView.com
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