The DeFi Broker Rule Was Revoked: What Remains

See the primary source.

The Treasury Department and the IRS removed the final rule titled "Gross Proceeds Reporting by Brokers that Regularly Provide Services Effectuating Digital Asset Sales" from the Code of Federal Regulations, in a document cited as 90 FR 30825, effective July 11, 2025. Congress passed a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, the President signed the resolution, and by operation of that Act the final rule has no legal force or effect. The relevant text of 26 CFR Part 1 reverts to the text that was in effect immediately prior to the effective date of the disapproved rule; a Congressional Review Act bar on a substantially similar rule without new legislation is a different thing from the subject being unregulated.

What is now permitted for accounting firms?

What stopped applying is the disapproved final rule itself. Under the joint resolution and by operation of the Congressional Review Act, that final rule has no legal force or effect, and the Treasury Department and the IRS hereby remove it from the CFR, per 90 FR 30825.

The document is effective on July 11, 2025, which is also the published date. A workpaper that still tells a preparer to expect a DeFi front-end broker gross-proceeds statement under that revoked rule is describing a duty that, on this record, no longer exists.

The sealed citation is 90 FR 30825, the RIN is 1545-BR39, the agency on the notice is the Treasury Department, and the CFR part is 26 CFR Part 1.

Readers should treat the numbers on this page as coming from a closed snapshot of 1086 rules across 11 agencies for the window September 1, 2023 – September 1, 2026. The snapshot is not a live Code of Federal Regulations feed.

What is now permitted, in the narrow sense this document supports, is that a firm is not required to build a client process around the revoked DeFi broker reporting rule as if that rule were still in the CFR. The notice reverts the relevant text of the CFR back to the text that was in effect immediately prior to the effective date of the disapproved final rule. That prior text is what still applies. This page does not reprint it.

the digital-asset information return is the form name digital-asset desks are asking about. The sealed abstract does not list surviving forms, and it does not say that the digital-asset information return went away. The rule does not say a surviving-form inventory here. A preparer who needs to know which digital-asset information returns still exist has to read the reverted 26 CFR Part 1 text and the current form instructions, not this revocation notice alone.

Source: Federal Register / eCFR.

What cost and time did the revocation take off the desk?

The document does not state a dollar saved or an hour saved. The rule does not say those figures. What a firm no longer has to do, in general terms, is stand up a new reconciliation lane for gross-proceeds statements that the revoked DeFi broker rule would have required from brokers that regularly provide services effectuating digital asset sales.

That is not the same as "crypto reporting is over." Clients who sell digital assets still have gain-or-loss work. Brokers and platforms that were already in the pre-revocation text of 26 CFR Part 1 were not, on this record, wiped out by the joint resolution. The Congressional Review Act bars a substantially similar rule without new legislation; it does not declare the subject unregulated.

The time a firm actually gets back is the time it would have spent mapping DeFi front-end service providers onto a broker-reporting checklist that no longer has legal force. The time a firm does not get back is the time spent on wallet histories, lot tracking, and whatever information returns the reverted CFR text still requires.

CoinTracker is the product many digital-asset clients already use to import exchange and wallet history and to produce tax reports. Drake Tax is the professional preparation product many firms use to complete the return those reports feed. Neither product was written by this revocation notice. A CoinTracker file that still labels a DeFi front-end as a "broker under the revoked rule" is a label a preparer has to strip. A Drake organizer that still has a custom interview question built only for that revoked rule is a question a firm can retire.

Do not convert that retirement into a claim that digital-asset income dropped off the return. The notice removes one final rule from the CFR. It does not say that digital-asset dispositions stopped being taxable events.

Firms that wrote internal memos off the earlier broker-reporting coverage should re-read that coverage against this revocation rather than delete the whole topic. The adjacent page on gross proceeds reporting by brokers is the older obligation write-up; this page is the CRA removal. Keep both in the file so a reviewer can see what died and what the CFR reverted to.

How can a firm adopt the change without tripping what still applies?

Adoption here means taking the revoked rule out of the engagement checklist while leaving every duty that was already in 26 CFR Part 1 before that rule. The July 11, 2025 document is the authority for the removal. It is not a blank sheet for digital-asset reporting.

Numbered operating steps a reviewer can quote:

1. Stamp every digital-asset engagement with 90 FR 30825, RIN 1545-BR39, effective July 11, 2025.

2. Delete checklist lines that treated the disapproved DeFi broker final rule as live law.

3. Replace those lines with a pointer to the reverted text of 26 CFR Part 1, not with a sentence that says digital-asset reporting ended.

4. In CoinTracker exports, stop tagging a front-end service provider as a broker solely under the revoked rule.

5. In Drake Tax organizers, retire interview questions that existed only to capture a statement the revoked rule would have produced, and keep every question that still matches the reverted CFR text and current form instructions.

6. Record, as a human conclusion, that a Congressional Review Act bar on a substantially similar rule is not a finding that the subject is unregulated.

7. Do not tell a client that the digital-asset information return, or any other named form, disappeared, because this sealed set does not say that.

Steps 1 through 3 and step 4 can be listed and routed. Steps 5 through 7 need a preparer who has read the reverted regulation and the current forms.

The limitation that belongs in the client memo is the CRA point, stated plainly: the Congressional Review Act bars a substantially similar rule without new legislation, which is a different thing from the subject being unregulated. The notice itself speaks in the CRA's operation — no legal force or effect, removal from the CFR, revert to prior text. It does not say the agencies may republish the same rule tomorrow.

How does a firm operationalize the change at volume?

Reconcile the client book against the change: each client engagement maps to the forms, elections, and filing dates the rule touches. US Tech Automations flags engagements whose workpapers still reflect the superseded treatment and routes the review to the responsible preparer.

Superseded treatment, on this page, means a workpaper that still applies the revoked DeFi broker final rule as if it had force. The flag is "this file still cites the disapproved rule." The route is to the preparer who owns the digital-asset book. The product does not decide which other digital-asset reporting duties survived.

US Tech Automations is the homepage for that flag-and-route workflow. It does not import wallets, and it does not file a an information return.

CoinTracker remains the client's transaction ledger. Drake Tax remains the firm's return engine. The operational job is to stop those two tools from carrying a broker-reporting assumption that 90 FR 30825 took out of the CFR on July 11, 2025.

Adjacent accounting work that still has force of its own includes life-insurance transfer reporting, IRS Appeals procedure, and automated tax deadline reminders. Those pages are not revoked by this CRA document. Do not sweep them into the same "crypto rule died" memo.

What can be automated is the hunt for workpapers, organizers, and client letters that still name the disapproved final rule as current law. What needs a human is the call about which digital-asset reporting duties in the reverted 26 CFR Part 1 still reach a given client.

Key Takeaways

• 90 FR 30825, RIN 1545-BR39, is effective July 11, 2025 and removes the disapproved DeFi broker gross-proceeds rule from 26 CFR Part 1.

• Under the Congressional Review Act joint resolution, that final rule has no legal force or effect, and the relevant CFR text reverts to the text in force immediately prior.

• A CRA bar on a substantially similar rule without new legislation is not a finding that digital-asset activity is unregulated.

• The sealed abstract does not inventory surviving forms such as the digital-asset information return; the rule does not say that inventory here.

• Flag files that still apply the revoked rule, and leave the surviving-duty call to a preparer who has read the reverted text.

What questions do digital-asset desks still ask?

What did Congress and the President actually do?

Congress passed a joint resolution disapproving the final rule titled "Gross Proceeds Reporting by Brokers that Regularly Provide Services Effectuating Digital Asset Sales," and the President signed the resolution, as 90 FR 30825 states.

Does the revoked rule still have legal force?

No. Under the joint resolution and by operation of the Congressional Review Act, this final rule has no legal force or effect, per the notice.

What happened to the CFR text?

The Treasury Department and the IRS remove this final rule from the Code of Federal Regulations and revert the relevant text of the CFR back to the text that was in effect immediately prior to the effective date of this final rule, according to 90 FR 30825.

When did the removal take effect?

This final rule is effective on July 11, 2025, which is also the published date.

Can the agencies issue the same DeFi broker rule again tomorrow?

The Congressional Review Act bars a substantially similar rule without new legislation. That is a different thing from the subject being unregulated. The sealed notice does not print a date for new legislation; the rule does not say that date here.

Did the digital-asset information return go away?

The sealed abstract does not say that the digital-asset information return was repealed. The rule does not say a surviving-form list. Read the reverted 26 CFR Part 1 text and the current form instructions.

Does this page change how digital-asset gains are taxed?

The document removes a reporting rule from the CFR. It does not say that digital-asset dispositions stopped being taxable.

This page is for informational purposes only. It is not legal or tax advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Read the rule and consult a qualified professional before taking a filing position.

Every date, citation, RIN, CFR reference, and figure in these posts is copied verbatim from the Federal Register and eCFR as of the snapshot date. Nothing is estimated, modeled, or extrapolated. This is not legal or tax advice.

Source: Federal Register / eCFR — 90 FR 30825, Gross Proceeds Reporting by Brokers That Regularly Provide Services Effectuating Digital Asset Sales.

Last reviewed: July 11, 2025

The exception path is the agentic workflow layer.