Good point on the $600 legislation, the exemption would be nice. However, my fear is the provisions could get changed on capitol hill to limit the benefit.

If the price ever goes, down, I'm sure this $600 exemption might include fine print to prevent the ability to take an investment capital loss which is a tax benefit, instead this is now a "personal" loss. I am a block-chain believer and sure hope this doesn't happen (a loss), but the current classification of Bitcoin seems to be favorable if a loss every does happen.

I also get concerned if the IRS tries to find a way to exclude digital currencies from capital asset treatment altogether, depending on how we use them in consumer transactions (losing capital gain rates on the sale).

For these fears I am trying to avoid using too much of my crypto in consumer transactions at this point.