Treasury revises CAMT rule to exclude unrealized crypto gains

The US Treasury Department prepares to ease the proposed rule that would tax unrealized gains on Bitcoin under the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT). The new rule would alleviate tax burdens for large corporations that hold cryptocurrency.

The U.S. Treasury and IRS have released interim guidance highlighting plans to ease the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT) rule, which mandated taxation on unrealized Bitcoin gains. With this new guidance on the Treasury CAMT rule, companies like Strategy will no longer pay taxes on their unrealized BTC gains.

Treasury revises CAMT rule to exclude unrealized crypto gains

The U.S. Treasury Department and IRS revealed plans to withdraw the partially proposed CAMT regulations and issue revised proposed regulations. Under the earlier proposed regulations, companies like Strategy would have had to pay tax on their unrealized Bitcoin gains. The rule will be applied to Strategy and other crypto issuers starting next year.

The Treasury CAMT rule proposes a 15% minimum tax on the financial statement income of large corporations. Initially, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rules required companies like Strategy to record their BTC holdings at the mark-to-market price, which means they had to pay tax based on the BTC’s current value rather than the amount they had paid for it.

The new interim guidance clarifies that these corporations may disregard unrealized gains and losses on crypto holdings when computing their adjusted financial statement income (AFSI) to determine if they are subject to the 15% CAMT. Strategy and top crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, were among the industry leaders that had pushed back against the CAMT proposed regulations, urging the Treasury to exclude crypto gains from taxation. They cited that the tax rule was unfair, as it didn’t apply to traditional assets.

The White House has officially withdrawn Brian Quintenz’s nomination to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), ending two months of speculation and political maneuvering. Quintenz, a former executive at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto), was widely expected to secure Senate confirmation until concerns over his past affiliations and public controversies surfaced. The decision was finalized on Tuesday evening, surprising the crypto industry with the abrupt reversal.

Quintenz’s confirmation process became intense recently following the leaked FOIA emails, scrutiny over his board role at prediction market Kalshi, and a heated public spat with the Winklevoss twins, which fuelled conflict with the opposition. These developments raised questions about potential conflicts of interest and his independence from prior industry ties.

Lummis says Trump just delivered for American innovation

Pro-crypto Senator Cynthia Lummis had also advocated against this Treasury CAMT rule, notably introducing a tax bill to eliminate double taxation and promote innovation. Following the release of the latest guidance, Lummis remarked that the Trump administration just delivered for American innovation. She noted that the interim guidance addresses the CAMT issue that threatened unrealized gains on Bitcoin. The senator added that this leadership clears the way for the U.S. to become the world’s BTC superpower.

Following new Treasury guidance today, Strategy has announced that its Bitcoin holdings will no longer be subject to the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT). The interim rule allows companies to exclude unrealized crypto gains and losses from calculating their adjusted financial statement income, sparing Strategy from potential multibillion-dollar tax liabilities. 

Saylor’s Strategy firm now holds 640,031 BTC accumulated at an average price of $47.35 billion and is currently valued at $74 billion. The firm flagged $14 billion of unrealized gains in the first half of 2025, which risked triggering CAMT in 2026. The company’s stock on NASDAQ rose by 5.74% today following the announcement. The stock was trading at $340.88 at the time of publication, up from $322.22 at the previous close

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