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Paying with cryptocurrency? Ohio takes step toward accepting Bitcoin for state fees

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Paying with cryptocurrency? Ohio takes step toward accepting Bitcoin for state fees


Want to set up a new business or pay a Bureau of Motor Vehicles fee? You might soon be able to pay in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency

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  • Ohio may accept cryptocurrency for state fees and services as early as this fall.
  • Businesses and individuals would pay a transaction fee, similar to credit card transactions, for cryptocurrency conversion.
  • Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose aims to be the first adopter, accepting Bitcoin for business filings.
  • This move follows increased cryptocurrency popularity and aligns with other proposed Ohio legislation regarding digital assets.

Want to set up a new business or pay another fee? You might be able to pay in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency as soon as this fall.

Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose will ask a state panel next month to approve the use of cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, to pay for state fees and services.

If approved, the state would find a company to convert cryptocurrency into cash that the state can use. Customers would pay a fee for the transaction, similar to when they use a credit card.

Then, each agency and department would decide whether to accept cryptocurrency. That process could take months, but LaRose wants to be the state’s first adopter, accepting Bitcoin to pay for business filing fees.

“I don’t anticipate that there will be hundreds of thousands of Ohioans that are immediately starting to pay their fees on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website in Bitcoin, but there will be some,” said LaRose, who said he owns about $10,000 in Bitcoin. “What this does is signal that Ohio is near the forefront of embracing this financial technology.”

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The move comes as the popularity of cryptocurrency, especially among Republicans, is increasing.

During Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential bid, the Ohio governor candidate was bullish on cryptocurrency, introducing a policy to curb the overregulation of it. Both Sprague and LaRose have endorsed Ramaswamy’s 2026 bid to replace Gov. Mike DeWine.

Meanwhile, Ohio lawmakers are pitching the Ohio Blockchain Basics Act, also known as House Bill 116. The proposed law would prevent state and local governments from charging additional taxes and fees on cryptocurrency, among other changes.

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Another proposal, Senate Bill 56, would allow Ohioans to pay taxes and fees with Bitcoin. And House Bill 713 would create a cryptocurrency reserve − an idea that Sprague said he still has questions about.

Former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate, was an early adopter of Bitcoin. He wanted Ohioans to be able to pay their taxes in cryptocurrency, setting up OhioCrypto.com.

But Sprague canned the idea, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost later said that Mandel hadn’t set it up properly.

Sprague said this new idea is different because it follows the right process. He also added that the federal government is much more supportive of cryptocurrency and limiting its regulation than it once was.

“This has come and if you don’t go out in front of it, you’ll get dragged behind the bus,” Sprague said.

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State government reporter Jessie Balmert can be reached at jbalmert@gannett.com or @jbalmert on X.

What do you think about the state accepting cryptocurrency?

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Community Is King: Why Wadoozie Is Ditching Online Hype for Real-World Participation

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Community Is King: Why Wadoozie Is Ditching Online Hype for Real-World Participation

This episode features two guests from the Wadoozie team. The project is led by Mr. Wadoozie, Senior Internet Architect Engineer of Software, who brings more than a decade of experience in the cryptocurrency industry. He is joined on this episode by Tay, Operations Manager, who has a background in marketing and management and has run operations for multiple crypto projects.

The token launches with a roughly one billion effective supply (two billion minted, 999,999,999 burned at launch), 0% buy/sell tax, a DAO-governed locked liquidity pool, and a renounced contract — every parameter publicly verifiable on Etherscan and audited by CertiK.

At the center is Wadoozie himself: a returning signal that takes a character’s form, traveling the country by tour bus to “activate” each state as a node in a fractured cultural network the mythology calls The Feed. The mission is structured as eight narrative Acts opening with the Austin Flagship and closing back in New Orleans, with seven Flagship cities — Austin, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, NYC, Miami, and Nashville — anchoring the arc across roughly four and a half months. After the 48 states wrap, the network expands to Europe.

About Our Guests

Mr. Wadoozie is the Senior Internet Architect Engineer of Software on the project, with more than a decade of experience in the cryptocurrency industry. He sits at the center of the mission — the returning signal that takes a character’s form, traveling the country by tour bus to activate each U.S. state as a node in a fractured cultural network the mythology calls The Feed.

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Tay is the Operations Manager at Wadoozie, with a background in marketing and management and prior operations experience across multiple crypto projects. Tay runs the @wadoozie X account and sets the public voice of the mission as the network activates one state at a time. On this episode Tay represents the operational side of the project — the people moving the bus, dropping the Signal Fragments, and building out the Publishers Network across the 48-state route.

To learn more about the project visit Wadoozie.com, and follow the team on X, Telegram or Discord.


The Bitcoin.com News podcast features interviews with the most interesting leaders, founders and investors in the world of Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance ( DeFi), NFTs and the Metaverse. Follow us on iTunes or Spotify.


This is a sponsored podcast. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below.

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EU Reconsiders MiCA Regulation as Crypto Evolves | PYMNTS.com

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EU Reconsiders MiCA Regulation as Crypto Evolves | PYMNTS.com

European regulators want to know if their 2024 cryptocurrency regulations still apply to the 2026 crypto landscape.

With that in mind, the European Commission announced Wednesday (May 20) that it has launched a consultation to get feedback from stakeholders and the general public on the functioning of the Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation (MiCA).

“As crypto asset markets and the broader policy landscape continue to expand, the commission is assessing whether the current framework remains fit for purpose,” the announcement said.

MiCA created a “harmonized” EU framework for crypto assets and related services, governing things like cryptocurrency asset‑referenced tokens and stablecoins, their issuers, and crypto asset service providers.

“Since the MiCA Regulation was developed, digital asset markets have continued to evolve, with the global policy and regulatory landscape also changing significantly,” the commission added, leading it to assess “whether the EU framework needs to be updated in light of market and international developments.”

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As covered here last month, MiCA is on the verge of a moment where it “stops being theory and becomes market structure.”

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That’s because of a July 1 deadline which says that all firms offering crypto asset services in the EU without formal authorization must close operations in member states.

The consultation, open until Aug. 31, includes a public consultation for individuals and a targeted consultation asking technical and legal questions of stakeholders that include digital asset issuers and service providers, financial institutions, consumer and public interest organizations, and EU public authorities.

One of the changes in crypto’s regulatory landscape is happening in the U.S., where lawmakers are preparing to take up the CLARITY Act after it was advanced last week by the Senate Banking Committee.

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As PYMNTS wrote, that vote was “one of the most consequential regulatory developments for digital assets since the collapse of FTX reignited demands for federal oversight.”

While still facing political and procedural obstacles, the legislation signals a growing bipartisan acknowledgment that what was once seen as a fringe or adversarial sector is now viewed as a strategic financial and technological industry.

“The market response demonstrates how central regulatory clarity has become to crypto valuations,” the report added. “Coinbase shares rallied after the Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill, while broader crypto-linked equities also moved higher as investors price in the possibility that stablecoins and digital assets may soon operate inside a more predictable U.S. regulatory framework.”

 

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K33 Research Says Bitcoin’s $60K Bottom Was Bear Market’s Maximum Drawdown

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K33 Research Says Bitcoin’s K Bottom Was Bear Market’s Maximum Drawdown

Key Takeaways

Bitcoin’s Downside Capped at $60K

In a research note published this week, K33’s head of research, Vetle Lunde, argued that the conditions defining the 2026 bear market make an 80%-plus collapse (akin to those seen in 2018 and 2022) structurally unlikely. She added that the 2025 bull market was less aggressive than prior cycles, and a proportionally less severe bear market will follow as a consequence.

Image source: X

The firm’s key evidence sits in derivatives data as bitcoin’s 30-day average funding rate has remained negative for 81 consecutive days, an unusually prolonged stretch of bearish positioning in perpetual swap markets. Lunde describes this as a “uniquely pessimistic” sentiment, which paradoxically stands to limit further downside by exhausting near-term selling pressure before a sustained decline can develop.

K33’s base case projects bitcoin consolidating within a range of $60,000 to $75,000, with slow grind dynamics rather than a sharp capitulation event. The “maximum drawdown” in this scenario sits at the February low of approximately $60,000, a roughly 52% decline from the all-time high of $126,272 reached on October 6, 2025.

The numbers may be severe by historical standards for equities, but quite modest for a bitcoin bear market cycle, as previous cycles have produced peak-to-trough losses exceeding 80%.

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The key structural difference K33 points to is the role of institutional capital. With access to bitcoin now largely routed through regulated products, the extreme leverage feedback loops that drove prior capitulations are harder to sustain at scale. Long-term holders also appear to be approaching selling exhaustion, a metric that in previous cycles has preceded a medium-term price floor.

Moreover, in February, K33 flagged parallels to the late 2022 bear market bottom when bitcoin first approached the $60,000 level. The latest note extends that argument forward, suggesting that if February was the floor, the market is now in slow recovery territory rather than mid-decline.

For traders and long-term holders alike, the question now shifts from how low bitcoin can go to how long the consolidation lasts.

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