Washington, Main Street, Wall Street, and DeFi Unite Against Illinois’ Digital Asset Tax

Washington, D.C. (November 12, 2026) - Leading voices from American business, the securities industry, the digital asset ecosystem, and the Justice Department have filed briefs in the Circuit Court of Sangamon County, Illinois, supporting the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) and Blockchain Association’s (BA) challenge to the State of Illinois’s Digital Asset Tax Act.

The U.S. Department of Justice, and Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) filed a statement of interest and an amicus brief, respectively, on November 6. A coalition of builders and investors in decentralized technology, led by the DeFi Education Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, and Uniswap and including Aave Labs, Aptos Labs, Aztec Labs, Chainlink Labs, the Decentralization Research Center, Dromos Labs, Figment Inc., Hyperliquid Policy Center, Jito Labs, Multicoin Capital Management LLC, Orca Creative, Phantom Technologies, Solana Policy Institute, and Stand With Crypto filed a separate brief on November 11. All three filings support CCI’s and BA’s lawsuit, which asks the court to declare the tax unlawful and permanently bar its enforcement.

The U.S. Chamber, the world’s largest business organization, and SIFMA, which represents hundreds of broker-dealers, investment banks, and asset managers, explain that the tax reaches far beyond crypto-native platforms. It would also hit the banks, broker-dealers, custodians, advisers, and asset managers that increasingly offer digital asset products and services. Their brief details the costly new systems these firms would have to build just to identify Illinois customers, value assets, and determine which activities trigger the tax, all under the threat of felony penalties. 

The coalition’s brief explains how blockchain technology works and why the Act’s definitions are vague and overbroad. It warns that the Illinois Department of Revenue’s proposed rules would stretch the tax to software developers and decentralized protocols that hold no customer funds and have no way to identify users, collect a tax, or know where a transaction took place. The brief also notes that an estimated 2.64 million Illinoisans hold digital assets, the fifth-highest total of any state.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that the Digital Asset Tax undermines federal policy and American leadership in digital assets. DOJ asserts the law is vague, unfairly singles out digital assets for treatment no other asset faces, and imposes burdensome and arbitrary liability. It urges the court to reject Illinois’ effort to undermine an industry critical to U.S. innovation.

CCI and BA first jointly challenged the unlawful State tax in August and asked the court to block it before it takes effect in September. In October, the State agreed to pause the tax until July 1, 2027.

The Digital Asset Tax Act imposes a 0.2% tax on the full value of a digital asset every time an Illinois customer exchanges, transfers, or stores it through a broker, even when no sale, gain, or change in ownership occurs. Illinois imposes no comparable tax on dollars, gold, stocks, or any other asset, and no other state imposes a tax like it.

“The U.S. Chamber, SIFMA, the DOJ, DEF, and an industry coalition of leading digital asset builders and investors speak for millions of businesses, investors, and innovators across the country, as well as the federal government. Their message is direct: this tax is unclear, discriminatory, unconstitutional, and harmful to the future of finance. We’re grateful for their support and confident the court will see Illinois’ approach for what it is: an obstacle to future economic progress,” said Ji Hun Kim, Chief Executive Officer, Crypto Council for Innovation, and Ashok Pinto, Executive Vice President of Legal and Government Relations, Blockchain Association.

The briefs are available: U.S. Chamber and SIFMA amicus brief; DeFi Coalition amicus brief; Justice Department statement of interest. 

Media Contacts:
Blockchain Association: Curtis Kincaid, curtis@theblockchainassociation.org
Crypto Council for Innovation: Amanda Russo, amanda@cryptocouncil.org

About Blockchain Association
Blockchain Association is the leading nonprofit membership organization dedicated to promoting a pro-innovation policy environment for the digital asset industry. Blockchain Association represents more than 100 member companies, including software developers, infrastructure providers, exchanges, custodians, investors, and other organizations supporting the public blockchain ecosystem.

About the Crypto Council for Innovation
The Crypto Council for Innovation is the premier global alliance for advancing crypto innovation. CCI represents the sector’s leading firms as we advocate for clear evidence-based policies that support responsible innovation using blockchain technology. It has teams in Washington D.C., New York, San Francisco, Brussels, London, and Hong Kong.