How to Use taxes to Reduce Your Bitcoin Price

Real Estate and BTC investor Grant Cardone shares how to use little known law to tax harvest a loss on Bitcoin and reduce your tax basis. This is not financial or tax advice – do your own research. This is how Grant understands the current tax ruling regarding BTC and The Wash Rules
Assume you bought BTC at Cost basis: $95,000 and then Sold for: $75,000
Realized loss: $20,000 (long-term or short-term depending on your holding period)

Current IRS Rules (February 2026)
Wash sale rules do NOT apply to direct cryptocurrency holdings like Bitcoin. The IRS treats BTC as property, not a security (per Notice 2014-21 and ongoing guidance). You can sell at a loss, claim the full deduction, and immediately repurchase the same asset without disallowance.
✅ You can write off / claim the full $20,000 capital loss this year, even if you buy back immediately at ~$75,000.

Offsets other capital gains dollar-for-dollar.
Up to $3,000 against ordinary income married couples
Excess carries forward indefinitely….unless you are taking against other gains
New cost basis on repurchased BTC: $75,000 (purchase price).

Hypothetical: If Wash Sale Rules Applied you could not do this…
(As you asked "under wash rules"). The $20,000 loss is disallowed this year.
You write off $0 currently. The disallowed loss adds to the new BTC's cost basis.
If repurchased at $75,000 → new cost basis = $75,000 + $20,000 = $95,000.
Loss defers until you sell the new BTC (without repurchasing within 30 days).

Typical round-trip cost (sell 1 BTC + buy back 1 BTC) for a low-volume user:
Sell (taker/market order): ~0.60% → ~$450–$570
Buy (maker/limit order): ~0.40% → ~$300–$380
Total fees: ~$750–$950 (≈ 0.5%–0.6% round-trip effective)

Tips to minimize:

Total economic cost (fees only, ignoring price movement): $750–$1,000 round-trip on Advanced Trade vs. $2,000–$6,000+ on simple Coinbase.
This is not tax or financial advice. Rules can change, large transactions may trigger audits or Form 1099-DA reporting, and fee tiers vary. Consult a CPA/tax professional familiar with crypto and review your specific Coinbase fee tier before trading.

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