Bitcoin taxation is not ivory tower crap, it's a mostly straight-forward application of existing laws to a somewhat novel concept. In a nutshell, it's a living demonstration of the evolution of the law that many legal practitioners are excited to be a part of. (Unlike litigation-related legal fields, tax law in general is not exciting. Moreover, tax law usually changes in response to statutory and regulatory changes, so getting to be part of an actual organic change to tax law is a rare experience.)

OTOH, talking about taxing high frequency trading is ivory tower crap, because current law doesn't impose any such taxes. Thus, any discussion would be merely theoretical and academic.