US lawmakers are pushing to eliminate a tax loophole that currently allows crypto investors to claim capital losses while immediately repurchasing the same digital assets without violating wash sale rules.
Unlike stocks, cryptocurrencies are generally treated as property under federal tax law, meaning direct holders can use tax-loss harvesting strategies that are unavailable for most traditional securities.
The effort is being led by Republican Rep. Jodey Arrington, whose Applying Existing Tax Anti-Abuse Rules to Digital Assets Act would extend existing wash sale rules to crypto transactions.
Similar proposals were previously supported by the Biden administration and congressional Democrats, with the Treasury Department estimating the change would raise nearly $24 billion over 10 years.
Republican Rep. Ron Estes has also endorsed the proposal, describing it as a way to ensure digital assets are neither treated more favorably nor less favorably than comparable financial assets.
