PARITY Act Progress

House lawmakers are moving a tax rewrite that would let some dollar stablecoin payments work more like cash than property. (horsford.house.gov) The proposal is the Digital Asset PARITY Act, a bipartisan discussion draft from Reps. Steven Horsford of Nevada and Max Miller of Ohio that was first released on December 20, 2025. A revised draft circulated on March 26, 2026, with new language for stablecoin transactions. (horsford.house.gov) (coindesk.com) Under current Internal Revenue Service treatment, digital assets are taxed as property, so spending a token can trigger a capital-gains calculation even on a small purchase. Baker McKenzie said that means a coffee purchase with crypto can require tracking basis, acquisition date, and market value at the time of payment. (blockchain.bakermckenzie.com) The PARITY draft tries to narrow that problem for “regulated payment stablecoins,” which Horsford’s office described as regulated, dollar-pegged digital dollars used like cash. The lawmakers said the bill would create a deemed-basis rule to reduce Internal Revenue Service burdens on routine transactions while limiting trading and arbitrage abuse. (horsford.house.gov) The March draft moved away from the simpler version lawmakers floated in December 2025. Baker McKenzie said the earlier text used a $200 per-transaction de minimis threshold, while the March 26 revision instead says no gain or loss is recognized on a sale of a regulated payment stablecoin unless the taxpayer’s basis is below 99% of the token’s redemption value. (blockchain.bakermckenzie.com) That stablecoin carveout is narrower than a general crypto spending exemption. Baker McKenzie said the March rewrite still leaves Bitcoin and other non-stable cryptocurrencies outside the payment relief that stablecoins would get. (blockchain.bakermckenzie.com) The timing lines up with a broader Washington push to formalize stablecoins as a regulated payment product. Congress.gov says the GENIUS Act became law after Senate passage on June 17, 2025, House passage on July 17, 2025, and President Donald Trump’s signature on July 18, 2025. (congress.gov) (everycrsreport.com) That law created the federal framework for “payment stablecoins,” while the PARITY draft targets the tax treatment of using them. Congressional Research Service said stablecoins are digital assets designed to hold a stable value, often at a 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar, and the 119th Congress has focused specifically on payment stablecoins rather than the broader crypto market. (congress.gov 1) (congress.gov 2) The same PARITY draft also reaches beyond payments. Horsford’s office said it would apply wash-sale rules to digital assets, set tax rules for staking rewards, extend securities-lending principles to some digital-asset loans, and create a mark-to-market election for certain traders and dealers. (horsford.house.gov) Nothing in the draft is effective yet. BDO said the legislation remains a discussion draft and could still change materially before formal introduction or enactment, but the direction is clear: Congress is writing separate rulebooks for stablecoins used in payments and for crypto assets used more like investments. (bdo.com)