The US Senate is set to conduct a final vote on March 27 to overturn the reporting rule established by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for DeFi operators.
If the resolution is passed, it could reach President Donald Trump for his signature as soon as March 28, as reported by a source familiar with the details.
This vote follows a procedural step required after the Senate approved the same joint resolution with a bipartisan supermajority on March 4, with 292 lawmakers voting in favor and 132 against.
The broker rule, which was finalized by the IRS in December 2023, aimed to extend tax reporting requirements by reclassifying “brokers” to encompass digital asset platforms, including DeFi front-end interfaces.
Community opposition
The rule was introduced as part of the previous administration’s broader plan to address tax gaps related to cryptocurrency transactions and improve transparency in blockchain financial activities.
Since its announcement, the IRS rule has met with significant industry resistance, as developers and advocates caution that compliance with broker-level surveillance and reporting standards is impractical for DeFi infrastructure.
The introduction of the rule led to a joint lawsuit in December from several organizations, including the Blockchain Association, the DeFi Education Fund, and the Texas Blockchain Council, challenging the rule’s validity. They argued that this regulation could severely impact the US digital asset industry.
The legal head of the Blockchain Association, Marisa Coppel, emphasized during the legal proceedings that the Treasury’s expansion of the “broker” definition to include providers of DeFi trading interfaces exceeds its legal authority. She noted that these interfaces have no influence over transactions.
Moreover, critics have pointed out that DeFi protocols operate without centralized control or custody over user funds, rendering the broader application of the broker rule ineffective.
If signed by Trump, the rule will officially be repealed, eliminating the expanded broker definition from IRS enforcement policies.