Previously, we covered the legislative backdrop on de minimis last week. Last week, at the Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas, a room full of roughly 100 attendees gathered to learn more about the current updates on a de minimis exemption for Bitcoin from Janessa Lopez, Head of Digital Asset Policy at Block, and David Zell, President of the Bitcoin Policy Institute. Wyatt O’Rourke and Jordan Guess hosted the event with a number of partners, including our firm.
[Full video of the livestreamed recording can be found on TFTC’s X. Click here to watch the recording.]
At Satoshi Pacioli, we believe Bitcoin is better money, not just as a store of value asset, but it is also better money to use in transactions. A major hurdle to Bitcoin’s adoption as a medium of exchange lies with the burdensome requirements to report Bitcoin transactions as capital gain tax events for every single transaction. A de minimis exemption for Bitcoin would allow spenders of Bitcoin to exempt any transaction (up to $200) from this requirement and more freely use Bitcoin to buy coffee, groceries, burgers, and much more.
Why Stablecoins Alone Does Nothing
The current state of the PARITY Act, the bipartisan House bill from Representatives Max Miller and Steven Horsford, is worth understanding clearly, because it’s easy to look at the headlines and think progress is being made.
However, the December 2025 draft proposed a $200 de minimis threshold, but only applied the exemption to regulated payment stablecoins. This means that practically, Bitcoin is not included in this de minimis exemption. The March 2026 revision moved away from a dollar threshold entirely, replacing it with a basis-based rule
For Bitcoin, these changes don’t move the needle on the burdensome requirement to report Bitcoin transactions as capital gains events.
As the Bitcoin Policy Institute and a coalition of major industry groups wrote to Congress in January 2026, stablecoins don’t run in a vacuum. Instead, they run on open blockchain networks that require network tokens like Bitcoin for consensus, security, and transaction execution. A de minimis rule that covers only the stablecoin layer while leaving the base layer unaddressed means every on-chain stablecoin payment still involves a taxable fee transaction.
There’s also precedent that supports a $200 de minimis exemption for Bitcoin. The foreign currency analogy is useful here, and it came up in the session in Vegas. Under IRC Section 988, personal-use foreign currency gains under $200 are already excluded from tax. The policy rationale was simple: the IRS shouldn’t be tracking pennies on vacation purchases. The same logic applies to Bitcoin transactions under a threshold. The $200 foreign currency exemption already exists. A comparable threshold for Bitcoin payments falls within this precedent.
Bitcoiners Do Use Bitcoin for Transactions: Almost Every Hand Raised
One of the most notable moments of the session wasn’t an argument made by Janessa or David. It was an ask for a show of hands. Roughly halfway through the session, David asked the audience who in the room actually uses Bitcoin as money to transact?
Almost every hand went up. You can see the moment at 26:20 on the recording.
There’s a narrative that has been floated in congressional lobbying conversations that Bitcoin adoption for currency transactions is dead. The policy consequence of this narrative lingers: if lawmakers believe Bitcoin is only held as an investment and not used as a medium of exchange, they will keep writing bills that protect stablecoins while leaving Bitcoin out.
The session at Bitcoin 2026 provided some solid evidence to the contrary—Bitcoiners want to use Bitcoin as money without the burdensome reporting requirements and cost-basis tracking when buying coffees and hoodies.
A Quick CTA: You Can Help by Making your Voice Heard
David and Janessa at the end of the session explained how we can help advocate for a de minimis Bitcoin exemption. Quite simply, contact your federal senators and representatives directly. A template and link for reaching out was provided at the session. To follow through, simply:
Go to btcismoney.xyz.
Enter your zip code to find your representatives.
Use the template at the top of the page to express your support for Bitcoin de minimis exemption.
This matters more than it might seem as Congressional offices track constituent contact volume. Organized, substantive outreach from practitioners, including people who can speak to the real-world compliance cost of the current rules, carries weight and can apply constructive pressure. If you were in that room, or if you’re reading this as someone who has used Bitcoin to pay for something, you have a legitimate stake in this outcome and a simple process for contacting your representatives.
What Comes Next
The broader coalition pushing for Bitcoin-inclusive de minimis relief, including Block, BPI, and others, has been meeting with congressional offices throughout 2026. The BPI’s state-of-play update notes meetings with 19 congressional offices across both parties, and signals from both the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee suggest serious engagement.
The show of hands at Bitcoin 2026 was informal. But it was honest. And it captured something that legislative text and coalition letters sometimes struggle to communicate: actual people, doing actual transactions, dealing with an actual problem that a sensible rule change could fix.
If you’re a Bitcoiner, now is the time to add your voice. Take a few minutes to go to bitcoinismoney.xyz to express your support for a Bitcoin de minimis exemption.
The content in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute personalized tax, legal, or financial advice. Tax rules for digital assets are complex and evolving. Consult a qualified professional regarding your specific situation.