The biggest obstacle to Bitcoin (BTC) used as a means of payment is a matter of tax policy and not a technology that reduces settlement times and transaction costs, according to Pierre Rochard, board member of the Bitcoin treasury company Strive.
“Here’s a metaphor: The best athlete can win against the worst athlete 100% of the time, if the better athlete plays. That drops to 0% if he doesn’t play and lets the weak athlete win,” Rochard said of BTCthe current lack of use as a means of payment.
Source: Pierre Rochard
In December 2025, the Bitcoin Policy Institute, a nonprofit policy advocacy organization, sounded the alarm about the lack of a de minimis tax exemption for small Bitcoin transactions.
The absence of de minimis tax exemption means that each time BTC is transferred to a third party for payment, it is subject to taxes, which prevents its use as a medium of exchange.
The United States is considering limiting the de minimis tax exemption to overcollateralized dollar-pegged stablecoins, which are tokenized U.S. dollars backed 1:1 by fiat cash deposits or short-term government securities, triggering backlash from Bitcoiners.
Bitcoin community reacts to lack of de minimis exemptions for BTC
In July 2025, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, an ally of the crypto industry, introduced a bill proposing a de minimis tax exemption on digital asset transactions of $300 or less.
The bill imposed an annual limit of $5,000 on exemptions and also included provisions to exempt cryptocurrencies used for charitable donations.
Senator Cynthia Lummis’ proposed bill for crypto tax exemptions. Source: Senator Cynthia Lummis
Lummis’ bill proposed deferring revenue from staking cryptocurrencies to secure proof-of-stake blockchain networks or revenue from mining proof-of-work cryptocurrencies until those assets are sold.
Jack Dorsey, founder of payments company Square, which integrated Bitcoin payments into its point-of-sale systems in October, called for a tax holiday on small payments. BTC transactions.
“We want BTC be everyday money as soon as possible,” Dorsey said. Meanwhile, others, like Marty Bent, a Bitcoin advocate and co-founder of the media outlet Truth for the Commoner (TFTC), said the proposed tax exemption for stablecoins was “absurd.”