After Ohio became the first US state to accept corporate taxes through cryptocurrency, so far two companies have paid their taxes via Bitcoin.

The revelation was made by state Treasurer Robert Sprague when speaking at a forum organized by the Associated Press (Feb 19).

Ohio began supporting tax payments in Bitcoin since the last quarter of 2018. Sprague did not disclose which two companies had made the payments or what amounts were paid due to financial confidentiality.

At the beginning of this year, TheCryptoSight reported that major online retailer Overstock.com had announced it wanted to be the first company in the US to pay some of its taxes by Bitcoin.

Sprague emphasized that Ohio does not actually accept tax payments in crypto itself, but relies on Bitpay to do the necessary currency conversion to USD before sending them to the Ohio Treasury for a 1% commission per transaction.

“We will never accept won or renminbi or francs or cryptocurrency, or any other currency. You have to relieve your debts to the state of Ohio with US dollars. That’s what we’re currently accepting. This platform just allows for that exchange, basically before that debt is settled to the state of Ohio,” Sprague clarified.  

“We applaud the pilot that makes Ohio more business-friendly and sets us up as a leader in cryptocurrency. We will evaluate both currency and counter-party risk once we enter the office to see about the future,” Sprague was quoted as saying on cleverland.com when the initiative was first launched.