Daines Releases Crypto Tax Proposal

What the ADAPT Act would change

Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana released the Aligning Digital Assets with Principles of Taxation Act, or ADAPT Act, on Sept. 30, 2026. Sens. Cynthia Lummis, Bernie Moreno and Tim Scott joined Daines in sponsoring the proposal.

The bill would allow consumers to spend certain dollar-based stablecoins on goods and services without recording a taxable gain or loss. Brokers also would not have to report those transactions.

A stablecoin would qualify only if it was issued under the federal GENIUS Act framework and appeared on a Treasury Department list updated every three months. To make that list, the coin would need to have remained within 3% of a value. The consumer also would need to have acquired it within 3% of.

The proposal would separately exclude cryptocurrency network fees, sometimes called gas fees, from taxable dispositions when the fees for one transaction total or less. Rules intended to prevent users from splitting transactions to qualify for that treatment would apply.

Trading rules and the Senate process

The ADAPT Act would extend wash-sale rules to traded digital assets other than qualifying stablecoins. Those rules prevent an investor from claiming a tax loss after selling an asset and buying it back within 30 days.

The wash-sale provision would include exceptions for staking rewards, mining rewards and regularly recurring purchases. Assets acquired before enactment would receive separate treatment. A tokenized version of a stock would be treated as substantially identical to the underlying stock.

Daines said the proposal also addresses staking, lending and constructive sales, which are transactions treated as sales for tax purposes even when an investor has not directly sold the asset. The bill must clear committee before it can advance to consideration by the full Senate.