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# Senator Daines Proposes Wash-Sale Rules for Crypto Tax Havens
- URL: https://wire.fourthweb.ai/senator-daines-proposes-wash-sale-rules-for-crypto-tax-havens/
- Published: 2026-10-04T20:01:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-04T20:02:00.000Z
- Description: A bill designed to make crypto taxes less absurd just crashed into the reality that nobody wants to write tax law in an election year.
- Author: Travis Wright
- Tags: Real World Assets, Stablecoins, DeFi, Bitcoin, Solana

**A bill designed to make crypto taxes less absurd just crashed into the reality that nobody wants to write tax law in an election year.**

### The Summary

- [Sen. Steve Daines introduced the ADAPT Act](https://thedefiant.io/news/regulation/daines-unveils-crypto-tax-bill-pairing-payment-relief-with-wash-sale-rules?ref=wire.fourthweb.ai), exempting [stablecoin](https://wire.fourthweb.ai/tag/stablecoins/) purchases and small crypto transactions under $10 from capital gains reporting while adding wash-sale rules to close tax-loss harvesting loopholes
- [Sen. Cynthia Lummis says the Finance Committee's reluctance](https://cryptobriefing.com/lummis-doubts-crypto-tax-bill-this-year/?ref=wire.fourthweb.ai) makes passage during the lame-duck session this year highly unlikely
- The bill pairs user-friendly provisions (no tax forms for buying coffee with crypto) with investor restrictions (no more claiming losses and rebuying the same token instantly)
- Political reality beats policy design: even bipartisan crypto tax reform can't overcome election-year legislative paralysis

### The Signal

[The ADAPT Act tries to solve crypto's most ridiculous tax problem](https://thedefiant.io/news/regulation/daines-unveils-crypto-tax-bill-pairing-payment-relief-with-wash-sale-rules?ref=wire.fourthweb.ai): every transaction is a taxable event. Buy a coffee with [Bitcoin](https://wire.fourthweb.ai/tag/bitcoin/), track the gain or loss from when you acquired it. Pay a gas fee in ETH, calculate basis. The $10 de minimis threshold would exempt these micro-transactions from capital gains recognition. The stablecoin provision is equally practical: buying USDC shouldn't generate phantom gains just because it briefly traded at $1.0003.

But Congress doesn't give gifts without strings. The bill would import wash-sale rules from traditional securities to crypto. Right now, you can sell SOL at a loss on Monday, claim the deduction, and buy it back Tuesday. Stocks can't do this. The IRS disallows the loss if you repurchase within 30 days. Crypto's exemption from wash-sale rules has been an open secret among tax-savvy holders for years.

> "The bill pairs user-friendly provisions with investor restrictions in a deliberate tradeoff."

The timing reveals everything about crypto's political position. [Lummis, one of the Senate's loudest crypto advocates, openly doubts passage](https://cryptobriefing.com/lummis-doubts-crypto-tax-bill-this-year/?ref=wire.fourthweb.ai) before year-end despite the Finance Committee having jurisdiction. If the committee won't move a modest, technically sound bill that raises revenue through wash-sale rules while cutting compliance costs for small transactions, what will they move?

The answer is nothing. Tax legislation in a lame-duck session, during an election year, with crypto involved, faces three separate political third rails. Committees prefer not to exist in October of even-numbered years.

### The Implication

This bill's fate tells you where crypto policy stands in Washington: reasonable ideas die not from opposition but from apathy. The provisions make sense. Industry would accept the wash-sale tradeoff for de minimis relief. Treasury would gain revenue and compliance leverage. And it still won't pass.

Watch what happens in Q1 2027 when the new Congress seats. If this bill doesn't resurface quickly with new sponsors and committee assignment, crypto tax reform isn't a priority for either party. That means another year of tracking every $3 gas fee and another year of tax-loss harvesting strategies that everyone knows are borrowed time.

### Sources

[Crypto Briefing](https://cryptobriefing.com/lummis-doubts-crypto-tax-bill-this-year/?ref=wire.fourthweb.ai) | [The Defiant](https://thedefiant.io/news/regulation/daines-unveils-crypto-tax-bill-pairing-payment-relief-with-wash-sale-rules?ref=wire.fourthweb.ai)