Early investors in Bitcoin are faced with large capital gain taxes from the profit they made in 2017.

Read more here: https://smartereum.com/5636/the-real-reason-behind-bitcoins-price-crash-revealed-tue-aug-7/

Qoute from that link,way back 2014 IRS made an announcement that crypto's are defined as a property and not a currency.
So as such they are entitle to pay thier taxes as property owners.