The U.S. State of Ohio has suspended the OhioCrypto.com website, which enabled businesses in the state to pay taxes with Bitcoin. This was announced by Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague at a meeting of the State Board of Deposit.
Sprague said that an internal review determined that the launch of such a service required the approval of the State Board of Deposit.
The creation and operation of OhioCrypto.com has been under internal review ever since Sprague took over as Ohio State Treasurer in January. The website was launched by his predecessor Josh Mandel in November 2018.
The internal review determined that the third-party payment processor, BitPay, is functioning as a "financial transaction device" and, therefore, should have been selected through a competitive selection process and authorized by the State Board of Deposit, which consists of the Attorney General, Auditor of State, and Treasurer of State.
The service has been suspended until a formal opinion is issued by the Ohio Attorney General on the process.
In November 2018, Ohio became the first U.S. state to accept cryptocurrency for official payments. This enabled businesses in the state to pay all tax bills with bitcoin, from cigarette sales taxes to employee withholding taxes. It was expected to be expanded to individual tax filers also.
However, fewer than 10 businesses have chosen to pay taxes through this method in the 10 months since OhioCrypto.com's launch. The site lists 23 different taxes that businesses can pay with bitcoin cash (BCH) and bitcoin core (BTC).
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