White House backs senators in debate over the need for tougher crypto regulations with a surprise statement

The White House stepped into a wrangle between senators over cryptocurrency regulation in the infrastructure bill late Thursday, coming out in support of those taking a tougher stance on which companies must comply with the tax rules.

Two camps of senators have put forward competing amendments to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, targeting its provisions for new rules on tax reporting and cryptocurrencies. The crypto-tax measures are intended to help finance the new round of spending. 

In a suprise intervention, the Biden administration applauded the legislative amendment submitted Thursday by Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Rob Portman of Ohio and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

"The Administration is pleased with the progress that has yielded a compromise sponsored by Senators Warner, Portman, and Sinema to advance the bipartisan infrastructure package and clarify the measure to reduce tax evasion in the cryptocurrency market," the White House said in a statement attributed to Andrew Bates, its deputy press secretary.