Does the wash sale rule apply to crypto in 2026?

Not under the law as it stands in October 2026. The wash sale rule in section 1091 of the tax code covers stock and securities, and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation reads digital assets as outside it. That could change for sales you have already made. On September 16, 2026 the House Ways and Means Committee approved the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, 38 to 5, and its wash sale rule reaches back to crypto sold after September 14, 2026. If it becomes law as written, a loss on a coin you sell this December and buy back within 30 days would not count for 2026.

The committee vote is one step of four: the House, the Senate and a signature are still to come, and we found no House vote on the bill by October 18, 2026. Until then, the rule below is a proposal.

What the law says today

Section 1091 denies a loss on "shares of stock or securities" when you acquire substantially identical stock or securities within a window that begins 30 days before the sale and ends 30 days after it (26 U.S.C. § 1091). Crypto is neither, on the reading of Congress's own tax staff: "Digital assets are not expressly within the scope of section 1091, and the IRS has not issued regulations or guidance addressing whether the wash sale rule may apply to sales or dispositions of digital assets" (JCT, JCX-47-26, September 14, 2026).

So today you can sell a coin at a loss, buy it back the same afternoon, and claim the loss. The bill is about whether that stays true for sales already behind you.

What the committee bill would change

The rule would cover any "traded digital asset": a fungible coin with prices readily available on an exchange. Qualified US dollar stablecoins, the kind the GENIUS Act licenses (what that law still waits on), stay outside it. Three details in the JCT description decide how it would bite:

• Wrapped coins count as the coin. A wrapped or tokenized version that is economically equivalent to the original is treated as substantially identical to it. Selling bitcoin and buying wrapped bitcoin the same day would be a wash sale.
• Staking and mining rewards don't count. Coins acquired through staking, mining or similar validation, or through a regular series of acquisitions taxed as ordinary income, are left out of the test. Rewards landing in your wallet during the window would not trigger it.
• Your tax form won't show it. For sales before January 1, 2028, the bill tells brokers to report your basis on Form 1099-DA without the wash sale adjustment. The correction would be yours to make on Form 8949.

The June version reached back to June 8. The version the committee approved starts after September 14, so a loss taken and bought back between those two dates sits outside it.

How a crypto wash sale would work

The window is 61 days: the 30 before the sale, the day itself and the 30 after. Buying the same coin anywhere in it, before or after, disallows the loss on that many coins.

The loss isn't lost for good. As with stock, the disallowed amount moves into the basis of the coins you bought back, and you take it when you sell those (JCX-47-26). An example with round numbers: you paid $100,000 for one bitcoin, sell it on December 10 for $83,000, and buy one back on December 20 for $84,000. Under the bill the $17,000 loss leaves your 2026 return, and the new coin's basis becomes $101,000. The deduction isn't gone. It waits until you sell the new coin.

Form 1099-DA: 2026 is the first year with your cost on it

Brokers report 2026 sales of digital assets on Form 1099-DA. For 2026 they must also report what you paid, but only for "covered" coins: acquired after 2025, in an account where the broker held them, and kept there until the sale (IRS, Instructions for Form 1099-DA, 2026, updated April 30, 2026). A coin you bought before 2026, or moved in from another exchange or your own wallet, is noncovered. The form will show the sale price and may leave the cost blank, and the cost is yours to prove.

For anyone who has held through more than one exchange, the forms that arrive in early 2027 will show proceeds with gaps where the cost should be. Your own record of every buy, every sale and every transfer, with dates, is the document that holds up.

What a December loss is worth

Capital losses offset capital gains first, crypto or stock. Past that, you can deduct up to $3,000 of net loss a year against other income, $1,500 if married filing separately, and carry the rest forward to later years (IRS, Topic no. 409). A loss is worth most in a year you also have gains to cancel.

What to do before December 31

The tax year closes on December 31, and these are the moves we'd weigh. They're our reading of a bill that can still change.

• To stay clear of the bill as written, sell, then wait at least 31 days before buying the same coin or its wrapped version. A sale on December 1 lets you buy back on January 1.
• Watch the 30 days before as well. Buying more of a coin in November and then selling your older, losing lot in December would be caught.
• A spot ETF is a gray area. The bill's explicit rule covers wrapped and tokenized versions. It says nothing about an exchange-traded fund that holds the coin, which leaves the general "substantially identical" test, never yet applied to crypto.
• Buying back at once is a bet on the bill. If it fails or its date moves, the loss stands. If it passes as written, the loss moves into your new coins' basis.

What changed

• October 18, 2026. First published, with present law and the bill's terms from JCX-47-26, the start date from JCX-50-26, the vote from EY Tax News, and the reporting rules from the IRS's 2026 instructions for Form 1099-DA.

Sources

• Joint Committee on Taxation, Description of H.R. 10357, the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, JCX-47-26 (September 14, 2026)
• Joint Committee on Taxation, Description of the chairman's amendment to H.R. 10357, JCX-50-26 (September 15, 2026)
• EY Tax News, Ways and Means approves digital assets tax bill (September 16, 2026)
• Legal Information Institute, 26 U.S.C. § 1091, Loss from wash sales of stock or securities
• Internal Revenue Service, Instructions for Form 1099-DA (2026, updated April 30, 2026)
• Internal Revenue Service, Topic no. 409, Capital gains and losses

This is not financial advice.