The Trump administration has moved another step toward bringing the United States into a global tax-reporting system designed to give governments clearer visibility into their citizens’ overseas crypto holdings. A new set of proposed rules from the Treasury Department, which would pave the way for the U.S. to participate in the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, has now reached the White House for formal review. The submission signals that the administration is seriously considering expanding the IRS’s ability to track U.S. taxpayers’ foreign digital asset accounts—a shift that could significantly alter how cross-border crypto activity is monitored.
CARF, an initiative created by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2022, establishes a standardized mechanism through which participating nations automatically share information about residents’ crypto holdings and transactions. The system is designed to curb offshore tax evasion in much the same way the OECD’s earlier Common Reporting Standard improved oversight of foreign bank accounts. Dozens of jurisdictions have already committed to CARF, including most of the G7—Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Italy, and the United Kingdom—as well as major crypto hubs such as Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and the Bahamas. If adopted, the U.S. would join a bloc preparing to implement the framework globally by 2027.
The White House signalled its support earlier this year, urging the Treasury Department and IRS to draft rules that would allow the United States to join the agreement. President Donald Trump’s crypto policy advisors argued in a sweeping summer report that refusing to participate could leave the U.S. at a strategic disadvantage, both in tax enforcement and in supporting the competitiveness of American digital asset businesses. They emphasised that participation in CARF could reduce incentives for taxpayers to move assets to offshore exchanges, where reporting is often less stringent, and could help create a more predictable environment for crypto innovation domestically.
The administration framed the move not as an expansion of surveillance but as a way to bring parity between traditional finance and digital assets. According to the White House, adopting the framework would strengthen the integrity of U.S. markets by ensuring that foreign holdings do not become a loophole for avoiding taxation. At the same time, officials stressed that any new rules should not burden decentralised finance activity, noting that CARF implementation in the U.S. should avoid introducing additional reporting requirements for DeFi transactions.
With the proposed rule now under White House examination, the next steps will depend on how the administration chooses to balance tax enforcement goals with its desire to maintain a crypto-friendly regulatory environment. If approved, the United States would be positioned to take part in one of the most sweeping international information-sharing initiatives ever applied to digital assets.
