US State of Ohio Suspends Service for Paying Taxes With Bitcoin
Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague announced the immediate suspension of the OhioCrypto.com website that allows businesses to pay taxes with Bitcoin (BTC).
In an Oct. 2 press release, Sprague announced that according to an internal review, approval by the Board of Deposit was required before Ohio launched the website that allowed businesses to pay taxes with digital currencies.
Furthermore, the State Board of Deposit has asked Attorney General Dave Yost to further research the legalities of how the crypto portal was set up and whether BitPay — the third-party processor that powered the service — constituted a “financial transaction device.”
Paying taxes with crypto not very popular:
Sprague explained that in the 10 months since the website was launched, less than 10 businesses have paid their taxes using Bitcoin.
The program was launched in November 2018 under the purview of the previous Ohio Treasurer, Josh Mandel, who told reporters at the time that the program was “planting a flag” for the state in terms of national cryptocurrency adoption, adding that he does see Bitcoin as a legitimate form of currency.
Reference: https://cointelegraph.com