The government just sees a pot of money...they could care less how much insane work it creates...that is until a Senator"s teenage son who has been day trading crypto goes to his dad to tell him his problem trying to do his taxes...then you'll see a new tax bill!

Regardless...it is a dilemma...I'm not a "trader" but am shocked how much buying and selling I do...between exchanges like you say...BTC to LTC in order to do non fiat trades when coins have increased in value and other coins look juicy....looking back at 2017 is a mess...I do use both Coin Tracking and Bitcoin Tax programs...and while I think I will be able to put something together using one or both of them...I already see how much of a shit show it is trying to track transfers...and the inability to input CSV or API reports for all the exchanges...

And as you mentioned...I am trying to come up with a tax argument to use Code IRC 1031 for 2017...its not a clear cut decision and many blog posts tend to lean against being able to justify based on different uses of coins...myself...I think an argument can be made...will take some research time...and may be worth hiring a tax attorney type due to the difference in tax it will create...

Meanwhile...as you say...won't matter for 2018 forward...although I wonder if a case can be made that a taxable exchange hasn't actually taken place since you can't actually trade majority of coins directly to or from USD therefore do you have a USD "sale" when you can only trade into another coin that may not itself be convertible directly to fiat...

Will be interesting to see where this goes...thanks for bringing it up...will get real hot soon with tax time fast approaching...