Tax-Free Bitcoin-to-Ether Trading in U.S. to End Under GOP Plan For investors who hold the virtual currencies, “the bill is bad news,” said Kelsey Lemaster, a tax attorney with Goodwin Procter LLP. “Every time you trade one digital currency for another, one token for another, it’s going to be a taxable event.” The change might not deter traders, who have been leaping into cryptocurrencies without researching what they are -- let alone their tax implications, said Brian Kristiansen, a partner in the digital currency services practice at Friedman LLP.
FTA: "The conservative view is that it [inter-crypto swapping] doesn’t qualify" [even under current law].
Should always have been a taxable event. Saying all crypto is the same is as dumb as saying all stocks are the same make these morons pay tax NOW for 2017 gains.