Wall Street lenders are calling on the US government to hold off on launching a digital dollar, arguing that a virtual currency backed by the Federal Reserve risks draining hundreds of billions of dollars out of the banking system.

Crypto proponents have argued for years that regulators shouldn’t apply decades-old rules to the burgeoning asset class. But in a move with sweeping implications for the industry, at least one prominent company is now planning to register its offerings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Congress should act quickly to pass legislation that creates regulatory guardrails for the fast-growing cryptocurrency stablecoin market, according to Treasury Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang.

IRS criminal investigators see cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens as ripe for fraud, including money laundering, market manipulation and tax evasion -- and even celebrities could get caught up in the agency’s probes.

Investors and creators of nonfungible tokens -- a market that has ballooned to $44 billion, Chainalysis data show, and attracted fans from Justin Bieber to Melania Trump -- face billions of dollars in taxes and rates as high as 37%, according to tax experts.

The Internal Revenue Service could seize cryptocurrency valued at billions of dollars that’s linked to tax fraud and other crimes in the coming year, according to the agency’s head of criminal investigations.