Senate Tax Bill Exempts Stablecoin Transactions from Capital Gains

The Senate has released a tax bill that would treat transactions made with certain stablecoins as nonrecognition events, exempting them from capital gain or loss reporting. The bill, known as the ADAPT Act, was introduced by Sen. Steve Daines and cosponsored by Sens. Cynthia Lummis, Bernie Moreno, and Tim Scott of South Carolina.

The bill would apply to qualifying US dollar stablecoins, which must be issued by a permitted payment stablecoin issuer under the GENIUS Act or registered with the OCC. The taxpayer must have acquired the token at a price within 3% of $1.00, and Treasury would publish a quarterly list of qualified stablecoins.

The bill also includes a provision that would exempt certain fees associated with digital asset transactions from capital gain or loss reporting. This provision applies to dispositions starting Jan. 1, 2027, the same date as the stablecoin relief.