The U.S. Treasury Department, like a big bank for the country, has made new rules for dealing with digital money, also known as cryptocurrencies. These new rules will start in 2025. But, they have decided to wait a bit to make rules for people who help others with their digital money but don’t keep the money for them.

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• The U.S. Treasury Department has issued new rules for online money or cryptocurrency, which will take effect in 2025.
• Some businesses that help with cryptocurrency but don’t hold it have been given a break from these new rules. However, they will have specific regulations made for them later this year.
• According to the IRS, the new tax rule will affect about 15 million people and 5,000 companies, and they will need to report transactions with stablecoins and NFTs.

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US Treasury Sets Cryptocurrency Tax Regime for 2025, Delays Unveiling Regulations for Non-Custodians

The new rules made by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), like the country’s piggy bank, say that places where you can trade digital money, kiosks, and online wallet services, have to share information about how much money their customers make and where it goes. Sometimes, this can include particular types of digital money like Tether’s (USDT) and Circle Internet Financial’s (USDC), as well as digital collectibles known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). However, the IRS has yet to decide whether to classify tokens as securities or commodities in which people can invest.

While these rules mainly target big platforms like Coinbase Inc. (COIN) and Kraken, businesses that help with digital money but don’t keep it, like decentralized exchanges and unhosted wallet providers, have been given a temporary break from these new rules. The IRS says big digital money platforms that handle many transactions can only wait for regulations. But, they will deal with the rest of the issues separately “later this year.”

The final rule will start for transactions on January 1, 2025, giving people who have to pay tax on their digital money another year to work out their 2024 tax returns. The IRS has also given people until 2026 to start tracking the “cost basis” for assets, which is how much the digital money was worth when it was first bought. Digital money used to purchase houses from January 1, 2026, must also be reported.

These rules started with a law in Congress in 2021, which led to the IRS making this plan for digital money. The suggested rule received many comments – 44,000 in total – showing that people working with digital money were frustrated with the lengthy process.

Aviva Aron-Dine, who helps with tax rules, said these new rules will make it easier for people to pay taxes and stop rich people from avoiding paying their fair share. The head of the IRS, Danny Werfel, agreed and said the rules would help the IRS catch people who need to follow the rules in the digital money world.

Introducing this new rule has worried some people in the digital money industry. They’re especially concerned that the U.S. government might ask too much of them. However, the IRS has promised that the rule won’t affect miners, software developers, and other people who aren’t usually considered brokers.

The IRS thinks the new rule will affect about 15 million people and 5,000 companies. They’ve also clarified how to report transactions with stablecoins and set rules around NFTs.

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