Charitable Deductions for Digital Asset Donations Act

The "Charitable Deductions for Digital Asset Donations Act" proposes to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, specifically Section 170(f)(11)(A)(ii)(I). Its primary purpose is to except widely traded digital assets from the appraisal requirement that currently applies to certain charitable contributions. This change is intended to streamline the process for donating these types of digital assets to charities and will become effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026. The Secretary of the Treasury retains authority to make exceptions to this rule to prevent potential abuse.

The bill introduces new definitions into the Internal Revenue Code, including "digital asset," "traded digital asset," and "widely traded digital asset." A digital asset is defined as a digital representation of value on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger. To qualify as "widely traded," an asset must meet criteria such as having readily available quotations for a full calendar year, a market capitalization exceeding $500 million (adjusted for inflation), and limited ownership concentration by the taxpayer. The Secretary is granted authority to adjust these requirements to ensure reliable price discovery and to exclude assets at risk of price manipulation. Additionally, the bill defines "tokenized digital asset," "wrapped digital asset," and "qualified U.S. dollar stablecoin," and includes rules of construction clarifying that the Act does not infer legal classifications for digital assets under other laws or for prior periods.