US Senate Passed 1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Along With Inclusion of Crypto Reporting Requirement

After going through rounds and rounds of discussion and debate finally, the US Senate has been able to pass the most hyped 1.2 trillion-dollar infrastructure bill. Bill also incorporates the most criticized and disputed requirement for crypto reporting which ultimately was sold through a consensus arriving between the non-agreeing lawmakers.

The most debated 1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill has finally been approved by the majority of the US Senate. The law obtained majority votes i.e. 69 in its favor while 30 were cast against the bill. The amendment seeking to exclude the requirement for crypto reporting was turned down. This means that the bill has been passed in its initial form which also contained a provision for mandatory crypto reporting by exchanges.

The bill was heavily criticized because it contained an unnecessary provision regarding cryptocurrencies. This invited criticism from one of the Senators namely Pat Toomey. Toomey was of the view that the bill with the inclusion of crypto provision is ‘unworkable”. Thereafter, at least two amendments were proposed by the non-agreeing Senators who wanted to delete the crypto provision from the Bill.

Concerned with the non-agreement of Senators, the Treasury Department of the US proposed holding round-table discussions. During the meetings, both of the amendments were discussed and debated and objections were recorded. However, the issue was resolved through a consensus arrived at on 9th August 2021 with the non-agreeing Senators through a Senate vote. The agreement was then duly reduced in writing in the form of a compromise agreement.

Under the compromise agreement, all the parties agreed that the bill is allowed to be passed along with the crypto provision.

The Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, commented in a tweet post that the bill contained a clause that annihilates crypto. He stated that the provision has been intentionally incorporated to destroy the American crypto industry as a whole.

Meanwhile, Senator Mike Lee also made a statement criticizing the bill. He said that if it is decided that the bill should be passed in its present form then it would bring havoc upon the crypto industry. He commented that the US will be off-track with the passing of the bill because it will eliminate the innovation. He further suggested that the passing of the law will take away the benefits from the US market into the markets of other countries. He commented that the crypto provision is evidently unproven and untested.

Brian Armstrong of Coinbase also commented that the law is unacceptable within the American crypto space. He said that the law is particularly against the interests of crypto exchanges. It is going to be the crypto exchanges facing difficulties to convince their customers to fulfill the requirement. Meanwhile, Tesla’s Elon Must emphasized that there wasn’t any dire need for passing the law in haste.