COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Pending Ohio legislation could create new ways for residents to use cryptocurrencies in the midst of their best month yet, but the bill’s sole sponsor could depart the statehouse before it ever sees a vote.
Bitcoin saw an immediate jump in value following the results of the 2024 general election, and on Tuesday hit a new record-high over $94,000. With Bitcoin sitting well above its pre-election price of $68,317, President-elect Donald Trump’s win has been perceived as a major boost for cryptocurrency. A crypto super PAC also bankrolled several victorious candidates it viewed as friendly to the industry, including Ohio Senator-elect Bernie Moreno.
Before Bitcoin’s latest hysteria — and as the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world pulled out of doing business in Ohio — Republican Sen. Niraj Antani introduced a bill intended to further integrate its use in the state. Senate Bill 317 would require Ohio’s government entities to accept cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin “for the payment of any tax, fee, cost, charge, assessment, fine, or other payment of expense.”
“If we want to encourage innovation and free enterprise in Ohio, we should do everything we can to normalize these use of cryptocurrencies,” Antani said when he announced the legislation. “By allowing Ohioans to pay their taxes and fees with cryptocurrency, we will be on the cutting edge.”
That’s not all SB 317 would permit, however. The bill includes language that would let any state university‘s board of trustees, as well as the board over any of the state’s retirement funds, purchase cryptocurrency as an investment. The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, in particular, has been embroiled in a major ideological battle between board members as well as an investigation by the state over their past investment choices. But the pension managers have yet to dip their toes into cryptocurrency, and would potentially get the chance when Bitcoin holds the highest price in its existence.
Though Bitcoin is seeing heightened hype post-election, SB 317 may never make it out of Ohio’s congressional chambers. Since being introduced in September, the only action the Ohio Senate took on Nov. 12 on the bill was referring it to the Financial Institutions and Technology Committee. Democratic Sen. Kent Smith, the ranking member of that group, has a negative view of its proposals. He referenced other states’ similar attempts at a rollout, suggesting Ohioans wouldn’t be interested in using cryptocurrency to pay their taxes.
“As we have seen in the only two out of fifty states that have started accepting crypto for payment of taxes, there have been relatively few takers,” Smith wrote to NBC4. “Colorado only received 72 tax payments in digital currencies while Utah received none. Additionally, while Ohio pension funds and universities have voiced no desire to invest in crypto, public funds should not be used for dangerously speculative investments.”
NBC4 reached out to Antani for an update on the bill’s progress, but he did not respond as of Tuesday night. Before introducing SB 317, he announced he would not seek reelection to the Ohio Senate and instead campaigned for the state’s 2nd Congressional District seat. Antani hasn’t announced any plans for his political future since losing in that race’s Republican primary. But he has used the last months of his statehouse tenure — ending Dec. 31 — to also vote in favor of Ohio’s bathroom ban for transgender students.
Antani does have GOP support in the committee, including Republican Sen. Steve Wilson and Bob Hackett as chair and vice chair. But the Ohio Senate has three committee hearings and three full sessions left before Dec. 18, according to its online schedule. If no action is taken on SB 317 by that date, it would have to be reintroduced next year by a new sponsor to even be considered again.
Ohio became the first state to consider accepting cryptocurrency for taxes in 2018, with an initiative launched by then-state treasurer Josh Mandel. Antani referenced this when he drafted SB 317, and noted Attorney General Dave Yost halted the project in November 2019. Yost advised that the State Board of Deposits would have to approve the new payment method, and that body never took action on Mandel’s idea.
“This policy should have been acted on by the State Board of Deposits when it was deemed necessary,” Antani previously said. “Since they have failed to act, the legislature will.”
As of Wednesday, no revised version of SB 317 has surfaced in the Ohio General Assembly’s online database since it entered committee. View the full text of the bill as Antani introduced it below: