RFK Jr. Promises to Exempt BTC from Capital Gains Tax if Elected President

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) has promised to exempt the conversion of Bitcoin (BTC) to the U.S. dollar (USD) from capital gains taxes if elected.

Speaking at the Heal-the-Divide PAC event on Tuesday, RFK Jr. noted that an exemption from capital gains taxes when converting BTC to USD would not only protect privacy — there are no requirements to report a non-taxable event — but also promote innovation in the country. He also argued that the move would spur investment, and incentivize ventures to grow their crypto business in the U.S. instead of other countries. RFK Jr. said during his speech:

“The benefits include facilitating innovation and spurring investment, ensuring citizen privacy, incentivizing ventures to grow their business and tech jobs in the United States rather than in Singapore, Switzerland, Germany and Portugal.”

The presidential candidate further claimed that his administration will attempt to stabilize the U.S. economy by backing the U.S. dollar with “hard currency”, including gold, silver, platinum, and BTC. He explained that this process will be gradual, with his plan being “to start very, very small; perhaps 1% of issued T-bills would be backed by hard currency”, and that the amount of backing will be adjusted depending on the success of the plan.

During his speech, JFR Jr. also echoed comments made at the Miami’s Bitcoin 2023 conference on 19 May, during which he defended the right of U.S. citizens to self-custody BTC and to run blockchain nodes from their homes. Prior to this event, JFR Jr. criticized President Joe Biden’s proposed plan to implement a 30% tax on crypto mining, tweeting: