Charity donors could skip appraisals on crypto gifts

For people who give crypto to charity, the tax paperwork can be the part that stops the gift. A proposal in the federal House would change that by letting widely traded digital assets use the same charitable-deduction appraisal exception that already applies to publicly traded securities.

The timing matters, too. The change would apply only to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2026, so donors would not see it in this year’s returns.

A cleaner path for a real donation

Under the bill, a donor who gives qualifying digital assets would not have to clear the usual appraisal step before claiming the deduction. That is the core change, and it is aimed at one of the slowest, costliest parts of donating noncash property.

That could matter for charities that accept digital assets as well. If the tax path is simpler, a donor may be more likely to complete the gift instead of putting it off while waiting for extra paperwork.

Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Mike Kelly is the sponsor. His bill does not rewrite crypto tax law as a whole. It tries to make one common kind of donation easier to complete and easier to document.

Treasury keeps the guardrails

The bill also keeps the exception narrow. It would cover only widely traded digital assets, not every token or coin in circulation. The definition reaches digital representations of value recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger, or a similar system.

Treasury would still have room to police the boundary. The bill lets the secretary determine what similar technology counts and act to prevent abuse of the appraisal carveout.

That is the balance here: less friction for ordinary charitable gifts, but not a blank check for taxpayers trying to stretch the rule beyond its purpose.

• Widely traded digital assets would get the same appraisal break as publicly traded securities.
• The change would start with taxable years after Dec. 31, 2026.
• Treasury could still block abuse and define similar technology.