65+ Crypto Firms Press Trump: Act Now to Protect U.S. Crypto Innovation

In a recent letter to President Trump, over 65 crypto firms have outlined a series of immediate steps that agencies can take to promote innovation, ensuring that the U.S. remains the leader in the crypto space. 

Backed by major crypto firms including the Solana Policy Institute, Exodus, Pantera, and Uniswap Labs, the letter says the past year has been a major turning point for U.S. crypto policy.

Most of the recommendations come from the President’s Working Group Report on Digital Assets. “The roadmap exists. Now agencies must act to cement American leadership in crypto,” the Solana Institute said. 

Tax Clarity

The letter urges the administration to clarify how staking and mining rewards should be taxed. They want the Treasury to classify these rewards as self-created property that is only taxed when someone sells or exchanges them. 

The industry groups also called for “de minimis tax rules”, such as a $600 exemption for small crypto transactions. They urged the administration to clarify that technical actions like bridging or wrapping tokens are not taxable events, and provide clear rules for airdrops, forks, collateral, and liquidations.

Regulatory Clarity

The letter calls on federal agencies to bring more regulatory clarity to crypto and financial innovation.

They demanded that top economic and consumer-protection agencies reaffirm strong data-access rights for consumers. They also urge better coordination so the SEC can move faster on its 2025 rulemaking.

It urged the SEC’s Crypto Task Force to work closely with other SEC divisions to issue temporary guidance and no-action letters, and exemptive relief, clarifying that “developers of source-available, permissionless protocols and front-ends” are not targeted while rules are still being written.

The groups ask both the SEC and CFTC to openly support Americans’ right to self-custody, in line with President Trump’s Executive Order.  They also urged the regulators to boost U.S. software and DeFi development by creating safe harbors and regulatory sandboxes. 

Protect and Promote American Defi

They also stressed the need for the SEC and CFTC to use the existing authority to grant exemptions that give DeFi projects clearer room to operate. It also calls on Treasury, NIST, and other agencies to work closely with industry to improve cybersecurity and fight illicit activity across digital-asset networks. 

The groups want FinCEN to clarify that the Bank Secrecy Act does not cover non-custodial blockchain software and also ask the Treasury to drop its proposal labeling crypto “mixing” as a high-risk activity.

Developers Protections

Lastly, it urges the administration to stop “regulation by prosecution” and protect digital assets and software innovation.

It also calls on the DOJ to drop the charges against Roman Storm, arguing that his Tornado Cash work was simply publishing software. They added that doing so would show the U.S. supports developers, free expression, and innovation.