I think IRS "ruling" is deliberate to control pace and direction of growth. First property, then currency.
Will change as bitcoin ....
I think their motivation is less complicated. They simply bought some coin at $1000 and now they want to write off their own or their constituents loses. Now for the first time there are millions of dollars in cap loses and IRS will take a big hit in tax revenue due to this ruling
noone will report gains but many people will report loses