US lawmakers revive push for crypto wash sale rules

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.

Tax specialists said the measure represents one of the few areas of bipartisan agreement on crypto policy and reflects growing momentum for broader crypto tax reform, though passage is considered unlikely before the midterm elections.

Arrington bill exempts qualified stablecoins from wash sale rules

The Applying Existing Tax Anti-Abuse Rules to Digital Assets Act would classify stocks, securities and most digital assets as “specified assets,” preventing investors from realizing tax losses through immediate repurchases while exempting qualified US dollar stablecoins issued under the GENIUS Act framework.

The bill also broadens anti-abuse provisions by covering contracts, options, tokenized assets and wrapped digital assets, requiring economically equivalent versions of the same asset to be treated as substantially identical for tax purposes.

Constructive sale rules would likewise be expanded to include digital assets, while exemptions would apply to tokens acquired through validation-related activities such as staking and mining.

Beyond the tax changes, the proposal establishes detailed legal definitions for digital assets, traded digital assets, wrapped assets, tokenized assets, qualified stablecoins and blockchain validation activities, while granting the Treasury Department authority to issue implementing regulations and maintain a public list of qualified stablecoins.