The White House released a 168-page report on digital assets, requiring Americans to report cryptocurrency accounts to prevent the transfer of assets abroad.
The White House has just proposed an important initiative requiring Congress to consider enacting a law that mandates American taxpayers to report 'foreign digital asset accounts.' This move is part of a comprehensive strategy to reinforce America's leadership position in the digital asset field while preventing Americans from transferring cryptocurrency assets to foreign exchanges to evade taxes.
This proposal is presented in a 168-page report published by the President's Task Force on Digital Asset Markets on Wednesday, under the direction of David Sacks – the White House envoy responsible for cryptocurrency and AI. The report emphasizes that the lack of a unified reporting program could put the U.S. and domestic exchanges at a competitive disadvantage.
According to the analysis of the Task Force, the ability to easily transfer assets across borders and access foreign exchanges has created a 'pathway' for American taxpayers to evade tax obligations. As the domestic ecosystem matures, these loopholes will create structural disadvantages for brokers and exchanges based in the U.S.
The framework of the new report and exceptions for DeFi
The Trump administration proposed implementing the Cryptocurrency Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) to retain cryptocurrency activities within the U.S. Foreign digital asset accounts are defined as accounts operated by foreign exchanges or digital asset service providers.
However, the report also clarifies that the IRS and the Treasury Department should not impose new reporting requirements on DeFi transactions – financial activities that occur directly on the blockchain without intermediaries and do not require the disclosure of personally identifiable information.
In addition to tax issues, the report also provides several other recommendations to facilitate the domestic cryptocurrency sector. Notably, banking regulators are required to clarify the roadmap for cryptocurrency banks to participate in traditional banking activities, including access to master accounts from the Federal Reserve.
At the report announcement ceremony, senior officials such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and SEC Chair Paul Atkins expressed their support. Atkins emphasized that this is a 'critical milestone in unlocking American innovation by bringing a clear set of rules to the cryptocurrency market.'
The report even likens Trump’s reelection to a positive 'hard fork', asserting that cryptocurrency will become the 'hallmark of America’s new Golden Age.'