Ohio became the first state in the U.S. to allow cryptocurrencies to be used by business entities for paying a variety of taxes.
The state, upon the initiative of the office of Treasurer Josh Mandel, launched the website ohiocrypto.com, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
According to the website, the enabling of cryptocurrency-denominated tax payments is part of efforts to make Ohio a leader in blockchain technology among U.S. states. “Treasurer Mandel believes in leveraging cutting-edge technology to provide Ohioans more options and ease while interfacing with state government,” the website reads.
Even entities without prior registration can set up their account in order to pay 23 different taxes, such as for tobacco sales, public utilities, general sales, motor vehicles fuel, commercial activity, and 911 Wireless. Currently, individual entities are not eligible to pay income taxes or other personal taxes using cryptocurrency.
Payments, in BTC, are to be processed by BitPay, so that none of the actual cryptocurrency goes to the Treasurer’s Office. The paid amounts are converted to U.S. dollars before being deposited into a state account.Exchange rates are set for 15 minutes from when payment is begun, taking into account volatility of prices, wherein BitPay assumes any losses related to the trade.
Transaction fees are set at 0% of amounts paid for the first three months upon launch of the website, after which a 1% rate will be charged. Even at 1%, the Treasurer’s Office said, the fee was considerably lower than the 2.5% charged when using a credit card to pay on the Ohio Business Gateway.
Cryptocurrencies seem to be especially appreciated in Ohio. Just this month, Rep. Warren Davidson announced the filing of a bill that would classify initial coin offerings (ICOs) as a product distinct from that of a ‘security,’ so as to reduce the Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) authority over such offerings. The bill seeks to be applicable at both a federal and state level.
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A congressman in Ohio is preparing a bill that will regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the same way as any other product as a means of “sidestepping” U.S. securities laws, according to a Washington Examiner report.
Republican Rep. Warren Davidson, of the 8th district of the state of Ohio, is reportedly weighing up a prospective bill which would treat ICOs as a type of product, rather than a form of security, thereby reducing the influence and oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The bill would aim to apply at both state and federal level, which would allow companies to avoid engaging with securities laws when launching ICO projects.
While Davidson is reported to be seeking bipartisan support, local media reports suggest this is unlikely, in light of the number of incoming Democrats into the House of Representatives, who would be expected to vote against deregulatory proposals.
Nevertheless, the bill would complement the recent tendency of crypto and blockchain firms to turn to venture capital (VC) funding rather than ICOs, in a bid to circumvent the complexities of securities laws and the increasingly stringent oversight of the SEC.
From the beginning of the year, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has led the regulator through its initial attempts to enforce securities laws on ICOs, after suggesting that every ICO the regulator had ever seen could be defined as a security.
While several commissioners have sought to soften the position since, the proactive enforcement of the SEC is reported to have driven companies away from the ICO model, with private equity being used to raise funds without the same regulatory burden and legal uncertainty.
If the bill becomes law, it would allow crypto firms to use ICOs without concern for the SEC’s definition of ‘securities’, delivering more flexibility to companies choosing to use the ICO funding model, rather than pursuing alternative routes to capital.
The proposals come a matter of weeks after Davidson hosted some 45 delegates from the cryptocurrency and financial sectors, as part of a ‘crypto roundtable’ to discuss regulatory issues.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Ohio lawmaker eyes bill allowing ICOs to ‘sidestep’ securities laws appeared first on Coingeek.
A congressman in Ohio is preparing a bill that will regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the same way as any other product as a means of “sidestepping” U.S. securities laws, according to a Washington Examiner report.
Republican Rep. Warren Davidson, of the 8th district of the state of Ohio, is reportedly weighing up a prospective bill which would treat ICOs as a type of product, rather than a form of security, thereby reducing the influence and oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The bill would aim to apply at both state and federal level, which would allow companies to avoid engaging with securities laws when launching ICO projects.
While Davidson is reported to be seeking bipartisan support, local media reports suggest this is unlikely, in light of the number of incoming Democrats into the House of Representatives, who would be expected to vote against deregulatory proposals.
Nevertheless, the bill would complement the recent tendency of crypto and blockchain firms to turn to venture capital (VC) funding rather than ICOs, in a bid to circumvent the complexities of securities laws and the increasingly stringent oversight of the SEC.
From the beginning of the year, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has led the regulator through its initial attempts to enforce securities laws on ICOs, after suggesting that every ICO the regulator had ever seen could be defined as a security.
While several commissioners have sought to soften the position since, the proactive enforcement of the SEC is reported to have driven companies away from the ICO model, with private equity being used to raise funds without the same regulatory burden and legal uncertainty.
If the bill becomes law, it would allow crypto firms to use ICOs without concern for the SEC’s definition of ‘securities’, delivering more flexibility to companies choosing to use the ICO funding model, rather than pursuing alternative routes to capital.
The proposals come a matter of weeks after Davidson hosted some 45 delegates from the cryptocurrency and financial sectors, as part of a ‘crypto roundtable’ to discuss regulatory issues.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Ohio lawmaker eyes bill allowing ICOs to ‘sidestep’ securities laws appeared first on Coingeek.
A congressman in Ohio is preparing a bill that will regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the same way as any other product as a means of “sidestepping” U.S. securities laws, according to a Washington Examiner report.
Republican Rep. Warren Davidson, of the 8th district of the state of Ohio, is reportedly weighing up a prospective bill which would treat ICOs as a type of product, rather than a form of security, thereby reducing the influence and oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The bill would aim to apply at both state and federal level, which would allow companies to avoid engaging with securities laws when launching ICO projects.
While Davidson is reported to be seeking bipartisan support, local media reports suggest this is unlikely, in light of the number of incoming Democrats into the House of Representatives, who would be expected to vote against deregulatory proposals.
Nevertheless, the bill would complement the recent tendency of crypto and blockchain firms to turn to venture capital (VC) funding rather than ICOs, in a bid to circumvent the complexities of securities laws and the increasingly stringent oversight of the SEC.
From the beginning of the year, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has led the regulator through its initial attempts to enforce securities laws on ICOs, after suggesting that every ICO the regulator had ever seen could be defined as a security.
While several commissioners have sought to soften the position since, the proactive enforcement of the SEC is reported to have driven companies away from the ICO model, with private equity being used to raise funds without the same regulatory burden and legal uncertainty.
If the bill becomes law, it would allow crypto firms to use ICOs without concern for the SEC’s definition of ‘securities’, delivering more flexibility to companies choosing to use the ICO funding model, rather than pursuing alternative routes to capital.
The proposals come a matter of weeks after Davidson hosted some 45 delegates from the cryptocurrency and financial sectors, as part of a ‘crypto roundtable’ to discuss regulatory issues.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Ohio lawmaker eyes bill allowing ICOs to ‘sidestep’ securities laws appeared first on Coingeek.
A congressman in Ohio is preparing a bill that will regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the same way as any other product as a means of “sidestepping” U.S. securities laws, according to a Washington Examiner report.
Republican Rep. Warren Davidson, of the 8th district of the state of Ohio, is reportedly weighing up a prospective bill which would treat ICOs as a type of product, rather than a form of security, thereby reducing the influence and oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The bill would aim to apply at both state and federal level, which would allow companies to avoid engaging with securities laws when launching ICO projects.
While Davidson is reported to be seeking bipartisan support, local media reports suggest this is unlikely, in light of the number of incoming Democrats into the House of Representatives, who would be expected to vote against deregulatory proposals.
Nevertheless, the bill would complement the recent tendency of crypto and blockchain firms to turn to venture capital (VC) funding rather than ICOs, in a bid to circumvent the complexities of securities laws and the increasingly stringent oversight of the SEC.
From the beginning of the year, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has led the regulator through its initial attempts to enforce securities laws on ICOs, after suggesting that every ICO the regulator had ever seen could be defined as a security.
While several commissioners have sought to soften the position since, the proactive enforcement of the SEC is reported to have driven companies away from the ICO model, with private equity being used to raise funds without the same regulatory burden and legal uncertainty.
If the bill becomes law, it would allow crypto firms to use ICOs without concern for the SEC’s definition of ‘securities’, delivering more flexibility to companies choosing to use the ICO funding model, rather than pursuing alternative routes to capital.
The proposals come a matter of weeks after Davidson hosted some 45 delegates from the cryptocurrency and financial sectors, as part of a ‘crypto roundtable’ to discuss regulatory issues.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Ohio lawmaker eyes bill allowing ICOs to ‘sidestep’ securities laws appeared first on Coingeek.
A congressman in Ohio is preparing a bill that will regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the same way as any other product as a means of “sidestepping” U.S. securities laws, according to a Washington Examiner report.
Republican Rep. Warren Davidson, of the 8th district of the state of Ohio, is reportedly weighing up a prospective bill which would treat ICOs as a type of product, rather than a form of security, thereby reducing the influence and oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The bill would aim to apply at both state and federal level, which would allow companies to avoid engaging with securities laws when launching ICO projects.
While Davidson is reported to be seeking bipartisan support, local media reports suggest this is unlikely, in light of the number of incoming Democrats into the House of Representatives, who would be expected to vote against deregulatory proposals.
Nevertheless, the bill would complement the recent tendency of crypto and blockchain firms to turn to venture capital (VC) funding rather than ICOs, in a bid to circumvent the complexities of securities laws and the increasingly stringent oversight of the SEC.
From the beginning of the year, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has led the regulator through its initial attempts to enforce securities laws on ICOs, after suggesting that every ICO the regulator had ever seen could be defined as a security.
While several commissioners have sought to soften the position since, the proactive enforcement of the SEC is reported to have driven companies away from the ICO model, with private equity being used to raise funds without the same regulatory burden and legal uncertainty.
If the bill becomes law, it would allow crypto firms to use ICOs without concern for the SEC’s definition of ‘securities’, delivering more flexibility to companies choosing to use the ICO funding model, rather than pursuing alternative routes to capital.
The proposals come a matter of weeks after Davidson hosted some 45 delegates from the cryptocurrency and financial sectors, as part of a ‘crypto roundtable’ to discuss regulatory issues.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Ohio lawmaker eyes bill allowing ICOs to ‘sidestep’ securities laws appeared first on Coingeek.
