Bitcoin [BTC] State of Ohio No Longer Accepts Tax Payments in Crypto

In the past ten months, crypto enthusiasts in Ohio have been paying their taxes in crypto after Josh Madel, the previous State treasurer approved the payment mode and set up OhioCrypto.com. However, now, things have taken a different turn. Robert Sprague, the current State Treasurer, has abolished the payment mode.

In a press release shared to media outlets, Robert Sprague announced the pulling down of the site citing that the move to set it up didn’t follow the right procedures. Furthermore, according to Sprague, the latter exercise required the approval of the Board of Deposit. Sprague explained further saying;

“It is essential for Ohio as a State to explore emerging and new innovative technologies and processes to revolutionize how the state does its businesses. However, all the latter should be done according to the law and as such, setting up of OhioCrypto.com should have been done per laws in place.”

State Board of Deposit Has Asked For Guidance from the Attorney General

Due to having BitPay come in a third-party payment processing firm, the whole process should have involved a tendering process. The latter would include a tendering process that would see firms come with bids to provide the services. However, according to Sprague, no such process was followed.

The above has led to the State Board of Deposit to seek the Attorney Generals view and directive. The board has urged the AG to do a thorough review and determine if indeed BitPay is constituted as a financial transaction platform under current laws.

Although the website has been up in the last ten months, only a few Ohio business paid their taxes in Bitcoin. Now that the site is down, businesses operators have to revert to Treasurer’s main website to pay their taxes.

Although OhioCrypto.com is down, the State of Ohio is still actively involved in the crypto sphere. The County Auditors Association spearheaded the formation of a working group to research the use of blockchain technology. In the association case, they are after the integration of blockchain into the real estate sector. Besides that, the State of Ohio has set plans in motion to inject $300 million into startups in the blockchain space by 2021.