Trump Overturns IRS DeFi Broker Rule, Boosting Sector Growth

In a significant development for the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, US President Donald Trump has overturned the Internal Revenue Service’s DeFi broker rule. This rule, which was set to take effect in 2027, would have expanded the tax authority’s existing reporting requirements to include DeFi platforms. The rule mandated that these platforms disclose gross proceeds from crypto sales and provide information regarding taxpayers involved in the transactions.

Trump formally killed the measure by signing off on a joint congressional resolution on April 10. This action marks the first time a crypto bill has been signed into US law. Representative Mike Carey, who backed the bill, stated that the DeFi Broker Rule needlessly hindered American innovation, infringed on the privacy of everyday Americans, and would have overwhelmed the IRS with an influx of new filings that it doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle during tax season.

This decision is seen as a major win for the DeFi community, as it removes a significant regulatory burden that could have stifled innovation and growth in the sector. The overturning of the rule is expected to attract more tech giants to the space, requiring existing crypto projects to focus on more collaborative tokenomics to survive, according to Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.

Hoskinson, speaking at Paris Blockchain Week 2025, highlighted that the next generation of cryptocurrency projects must embrace a more collaborative approach to compete with major centralized tech companies entering the Web3 space. He criticized the current "circular economy" of the crypto and DeFi space, where the rally of a specific cryptocurrency is often bolstered by funds exiting another token, limiting the growth of the entire industry.

Hoskinson argued that to have a chance against the centralized technology giants joining the Web3 industry, cryptocurrency projects need more collaborative tokenomics and market structure. He emphasized that the current environment often sees one crypto project’s growth come at the expense of another rather than contributing to the sector’s overall health. This is not sustainable in the face of trillion-dollar firms like Apple, Google, and Microsoft, which may soon join the Web3 race amid clearer US regulations.