The U.S. Department of the Treasury is eliminating the application of the crypto CAMT tax on unrealized gains, saving Strategy billions of dollars on paper profits.
The Treasury is set to formally exempt Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT), a move that would remove a potential multibillion-dollar tax liability for companies like Strategy holding large Bitcoin reserves.
According to Eleanor Terret, the exemption concerns the 15% minimum tax on corporate financial statement income, which would have required companies to pay taxes on unrealized gains under accounting rules mandating mark-to-market valuations.
Impact on Strategy
Strategy currently holds approximately 640,031 bitcoins, valued at over $74 billion, with unrealized gains exceeding $27 billion. Without the CAMT tax exemption, the company would have faced multibillion-dollar federal tax liabilities starting in 2026 under a provision of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.
The CAMT applies to corporations earning over $1 billion annually and is based on adjusted financial statement income, including fair value measurements of assets such as Bitcoin—even when they are not sold.
The exemption follows sustained lobbying by Strategy and Coinbase, who sent a joint letter to the Treasury last May requesting that unrealized crypto gains be excluded from the CAMT. According to both companies, taxing paper profits raises several issues:
- unequal treatment compared to traditional stocks and bonds;
- potential need to sell assets just to pay taxes;
- competitive disadvantage for U.S. companies versus foreign peers not subject to similar accounting rules;
- constitutional concerns over taxing non-existent income.
Notice 2025-49: the new rules
On September 29, the Treasury issued Notice 2025-49, providing provisional guidance on CAMT application and announcing plans to publish revised proposed regulations incorporating new rules.
The notice introduces a “FVI Exclusion Option”, allowing corporations to ignore fair value measurement adjustments for items like digital assets that are mark-to-market for financial reporting but not for ordinary tax purposes.
It also provides a “Hedge Coordination Option” for certain hedging transactions where both the hedge and the hedged item are mark-to-market for tax purposes but not for financial reporting.
The exemption aligns with Executive Order 14178, “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” aimed at promoting U.S. leadership in digital assets.
