Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, a new report by The Wall Street Journal claims MicroStrategy may have to pay taxes on its unrealized Bitcoin gains, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has rescinded the controversial crypto accounting rule SAB 121, and Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a crypto working group.MicroStrategy may owe taxes on $19 billion unrealized Bitcoin gainsDespite never selling any Bitcoin, MicroStrategy may have to pay taxes on its unrealized gains.Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, may have to pay federal income taxes on its unrealized gains, according to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.The act established a “corporate alternative minimum tax” under which MicroStrategy would qualify for a 15% tax rate based on the adjusted version of the company’s earnings, according to Jan. 24 report in The Wall Street Journal.Still, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may create an exemption for BTC under President Donald Trump’s more crypto-friendly administration.MicroStrategy’s holdings have surpassed 450,000 BTC, worth more than $48 billion, after the company bought $243 million of BTC on Jan. 13. According to MicroStrategy’s portfolio tracker, the company’s Bitcoin holdings have an unrealized gain of over $19.3 billion.SEC revokes SAB 121 crypto accounting ruleThe Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 23 canceled the controversial Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, or SAB 121, a rule that mandated financial firms holding crypto on behalf of customers must record them as liabilities on their balance sheets.A new bulletin, SAB 122, said it “rescinds the interpretive guidance” of SAB 121 — a rule published in March 2022 that the crypto industry has long sought to have repealed.“Bye, bye SAB 121!” SEC Commissioner and the agency’s crypto task force lead Hester Peirce wrote in a Jan. 23 X post. “It’s not been fun.”Bye, bye SAB 121! It's not been fun: https://t.co/cIwUc0isUE | Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 122The crypto industry had long pushed back on the rule, saying it would make holding crypto administratively more difficult for financial firms to hold.It marks the first significant move by the SEC under President Donald Trump, which is led by his pick, Mark Uyeda, currently the agency’s acting chair.A bill to repeal SAB 121 initially received bipartisan support in Congress but Joe Biden vetoed it in June last year. A House vote five weeks later to override the veto fell short, which left the rule in place.Trump signs executive order for crypto working group, prohibiting CBDCUS President Donald Trump has signed his first executive order potentially affecting crypto users and industry leaders, which many expected during his first days in office.In a televised address from the Oval Office on Jan. 23, Trump appeared with his ‘AI and crypto czar’ David Sacks, who explained the executive order to the US President.According to Sacks, the EO established an “internal working group to make America the world capital in crypto,” with himself chairing the effort.The order also prohibited “the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use” of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC) and asked the working group to study the potential creation and maintenance of a national crypto stockpile and a regulatory framework for stablecoins.