Ohio Approves Grant Street Group to Process Bitcoin Payments for State Fees Starting This Year
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Ohio just became the fourth state to accept crypto for government services. On September 24, 2025, the State Board of Deposit unanimously picked Grant Street Group, a Pittsburgh-based payment processor, to handle crypto transactions for state fees. The company will convert Bitcoin and other assets into dollars immediately, protecting the state from price swings while giving residents a new way to pay.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose pushed hard for this change. His office handles nearly 500,000 payment transactions every year, and he’s been hearing from businesses and residents who want to pay with crypto. LaRose himself owns about $10,000 in Bitcoin and plans to make his office the first state agency to roll out the new payment option.
The timing seems amazing, though - Ohio already has more than 100 Bitcoin ATMs scattered across Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Akron. So, that’s part of the 49,000 crypto ATMs nationwide, according to AARP data - the infrastructure is there, and people are using it. The crypto field has already proven that such payments work pretty efficiently in other sectors. For instance, crypto casinos with instant withdrawals have proven that blockchain tech can deliver immediate payouts and smooth transactions that all other payment methods can’t match. Ohio wants to bring that same efficiency to government services.
Grant Street Group knows what they’re doing - and they process more than $20 billion each year through their PaymentExpress platform. In Florida alone, they collect nearly two-thirds of all property taxes - that’s $21 billion running through their TaxSys system.
But this isn’t Ohio’s first rodeo with crypto - so, back in 2018, under Treasurer Josh Mandel, Ohio became the first state to accept Bitcoin for business taxes through OhioCrypto.com. BitPay handled the processing, but they shut it down in 2019 after running into legal issues - basically, they didn’t follow the proper contracting procedures.
So, this time, Ohio did its homework. The current effort started in April 2025 when LaRose and Treasurer Robert Sprague formally asked the State Board of Deposit to authorize crypto payments - and the board said yes in May, then spent months finding the right vendor.
So, here’s how it’ll work: You pay your state fees in Bitcoin or some other accepted crypto, Grant Street Group instantly converts it to dollars, and the state gets its money in USD. Also, you’ll pay a transaction fee, but just like you would with a credit card.
Ohio lawmakers aren’t stopping there, though. Representative Steve Demetriou introduced House Bill 18, the Ohio Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve Act. If it passes, the state treasurer could invest up to 10% of Ohio’s general fund, budget stabilization fund, and prizes trust fund in assets. Vivek Ramaswamy, who’s eyeing a run for Ohio governor, backs the bill. He sees it as a hedge against inflation.
The Ohio House also passed the Blockchain Basics Act in June with a 68-26 vote. The law stops local governments from banning crypto use and makes crypto transactions under $200 tax-free for capital gains purposes.
But not everyone’s convinced this will take off - Colorado started accepting crypto for tax payments in September 2022. After three years, they’ve processed fewer than 80 crypto payments totaling just $57,000. Well, that’s 0.0005% of their income tax collections.
But Ohio’s business community sounds optimistic. Andrew Burchwell from the Ohio Blockchain Council called it a move that “modernizes our state government to be prepared for the future of global payments.” Noah Herman from Fortris Global pointed out that innovation in the U.S. has always been led by states, and blockchain is no different.
Baylor Myers, a VP at BitGo and sixth-generation Ohioan, put it simply: Ohio has the talent, values, and drive to compete with Silicon Valley and Wall Street in the crypto sphere.
Right now, 47 states have introduced some form of Bitcoin reserve legislation, with 26 actively considering proposals. Ohio joins Colorado, Utah, and Louisiana in actually accepting crypto for government payments. Whether Ohio’s program succeeds where Colorado’s struggled remains to be seen - but with Grant Street Group’s proven track record and Ohio’s business-friendly environment, they might just pull it off.