Launchy Regulatory Roundup #106 - House Panel Unveils Crypto Tax Bill

Aave Founder Pitches DeFi's Uber Path

Marco Manoppo & Muhammad Reynaldi Ariananda Arkiang
September 20, 2026

📢 Sponsor | 💡 Telegram | 📰 Past Editions

Good Morning.

Welcome to our 106th edition of the regulatory roundup. If you know anybody who would benefit from this content, please help us spread the word!

In Today's Edition:

Headline: House Panel Unveils Crypto Tax Bill
Global Legal Roundup
Case Study: Aave Founder Pitches DeFi's Uber Path

You read and share. We listen and improve. Send us feedback at marco@launchy.app.

For daily market updates and airdrop alphas, check out our telegram!

HEADLINE

House Panel Unveils Crypto Tax Bill

State of play: The House Ways and Means Committee released a 114-page crypto tax bill on Monday, the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, ahead of a Wednesday markup covering fees, stablecoins, mining, staking, and wash sales.

A de minimis exception would let crypto fees of $10 or less skip gain-or-loss reporting, starting in 2028.
Qualifying US dollar stablecoins would generally use redemption value as tax basis for small deviations from the $1 peg.
Mining and staking income would be taxed as ordinary income, though certain investment trusts could stake without affecting their tax status.
Wash-sale rules would extend to digital assets, disallowing losses on substantially identical assets bought within 30 days.
The bill drops an earlier deferral option for newly minted assets and requires Treasury to launch a Voluntary Disclosure Program within 12 months.

What’s Next: The Ways and Means Committee holds its markup Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET, where lawmakers can amend the bill before a potential full House vote.

Why it Matters: Clear tax rules on staking, mining, fees, and stablecoins would resolve years of ambiguity that has left taxpayers guessing and complicated routine crypto activity.

Our Take: Dropping the mining and staking deferral option industry groups wanted signals lawmakers are prioritizing revenue certainty over crypto-friendly concessions, a trade-off that could draw pushback before Wednesday's markup.

GLOBAL LEGAL ROUNDUP

America:

🇺🇸 US sanctions Iranian crypto exchange BitBank.
🇺🇸 SEC releases long-awaited innovation exemption.
🇺🇸 NYAG leads bipartisan push against the Clarity Act.
🇺🇸 House committee releases sweeping crypto tax bill.
🇺🇸 Visa to close Crossmint memecoin rewards loophole.
🇺🇸 CFTC files crypto asset rulemaking with White House.
🇺🇸 House panel approves first federal crypto tax framework.
🇺🇸 CFTC follows SEC with developer-friendly no-action stance.
🇺🇸 House committee moves to codify Trump's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
🇺🇸 Sen. Gillibrand says Democrats still committed to passing Clarity Act.
🇺🇸 Underdog sues Connecticut to stop sports prediction market crackdown.
🇺🇸 Aave founder pitches 'Uber path' for DeFi after Clarity Act fails Senate vote.
🇺🇸 DOJ charges Robinhood former engineers with front-running crypto listings.

Europe:

🇪🇺 ECB President intervened to block Binance’s EU MiCA license.

APAC:

🇰🇷 South Korean investors push for fourth crypto tax delay.
🇰🇷 South Korean police charge 26 Polymarket users for illegal gambling.

CASE STUDY

Aave Founder Pitches DeFi's Uber Path

State of play: Aave CEO Stani Kulechov said DeFi may need to grow adoption to a scale lawmakers can't ignore, an "Uber path" to regulation, after the Clarity Act failed a Senate advancement vote this week.

Kulechov said he remains hopeful Clarity can still pass this year but sees mass adoption as the fallback path to regulatory clarity.
Aave launched a real-world asset hub on Avalanche for institutional lending, letting tokenized assets serve as collateral to borrow stablecoins.
He said institutional demand will drive growth since "institutions come with size."
Kulechov called tokenization a go-to-market challenge now, not a technological one.
Aave is also building a consumer savings app that abstracts wallets, networks, and stablecoins for bank-to-DeFi transfers.

Our Take: Kulechov's "Uber path" framing is a pragmatic hedge, but growing adoption faster than regulators can act is a riskier bet post-Clarity failure, since a hostile rule could land before DeFi reaches the scale he's counting on to make it politically untouchable.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our comprehensive database of crypto regulations around the world👇

If you enjoy reading this issue, please consider subscribing. It takes 1 minute of your time but it would mean the world to us 🙇

Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.