Ohio’s treasurer and secretary of state want state agencies to start taking Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for certain fees and services, such as the one to form a business, they said.
At the same time, though, Republican Treasurer Robert Sprague said he is not sold on a bill suggesting he invest taxpayer dollars in digital currencies, colloquially known as cryptocurrencies or just crypto.
“We don’t want to be on the bleeding edge of things, but we want to be on the leading edge of things,” Sprague said Thursday at a news conference.
Introduced by Rep. Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Twp.), House Bill 18 would enable Sprague, or a future treasurer, to invest as much as 10% of state funds from interim sources—like those in the General Revenue Fund and the State Lottery Gross Revenue Fund—in digital assets, including crypto and nonfungible tokens.
For one, Sprague said Thursday there are technicalities that need to be worked out to ensure the state is safeguarding any eventual digital assets it invests in.
“There are some issues that we’re trying to work through on (HB 18),” he said. “I do like this idea of having some sovereign wealth or the idea of Ohio being able to hold on to assets longer term and those assets to build and grow over time.”
Chief among Sprague’s concerns, though, is determining whether Ohio is fully willing to take on the volatility of digital currencies, which are still relatively new and evolving. Sprague doesn’t own any crypto, he said.
Also under consideration at the Statehouse is House Bill 116, which would bar state and local governments from levying certain taxes, fees or charges that target crypto. That sets groundwork for HB 18, Demetriou said.
“I think it would be wise for us to have some definitions in the (Ohio Revised Code), if we’re going to go then say, ‘Hey, let’s go invest Ohioans money in this stuff,’” he said in a March interview.
About one in five Ohioans own some form of digital currency, according to a 2023 poll by the digital asset exchange Coinbase.