White House 2026 budget targets crypto's wash-sale loophole — $5.4B on the table over 10 years.

The White House's 2026 budget proposal would apply wash-sale rules to crypto for the first time, closing a gap that has let traders sell $BTC at a loss and immediately rebuy — a move that is illegal for equity investors but fully legal under current property-classification rules. Treasury estimates the change would generate $5.4 billion in additional revenue over a decade.

The package goes further: a 30% excise tax on electricity used for proof-of-work mining (the DAME tax) would hit miners directly, and a new FATCA reporting requirement would capture U.S. taxpayers holding more than $50,000 in foreign crypto accounts.

The political path is steep. Congress is simultaneously advancing the CLARITY Act toward pro-crypto regulation, and similar wash-sale proposals floated under Obama and Biden never cleared the Hill. The administration frames the tax measures as parity with equities, not…