Ohio to Allow Bitcoin for Tax Payments, Boosting Crypto Legitimacy
*By Carlo Versano*
Bitcoin ー asset or currency?
If it's the former, it's among the most volatile assets one can trade. If it's the latter, it just took a step toward legitimacy ー with the decision by the state of Ohio to allow businesses to pay their tax bills in Bitcoin starting this week.
Ohio officials said they plan to extend the initiative to individual Ohioan taxpayers in the future. While it's limited in scope, the move represents an important tacit admission by a government body that Bitcoin is an acceptable currency, according to Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song.
Song told Cheddar that it's inevitable that more bureaucracies will embrace Bitcoin as a legitimate currency. "It's just so convenient," he said. "Governments generally like the convenience of getting paid very quickly."
The currency play is a long game, in his view. Bitcoin has struggled to gain widespread adoption over its 10-year lifespan, even as the recent speculation in crypto markets has made and lost fortunes in the meantime. Bitcoin plunged another 35 percent over the last week to settle under $4,000. "It takes some time before things gain acceptance," Song said.
As a developer, Song hopes the volatility in the crypto markets will provide an opportunity for programmers and engineers to "put their heads down and develop" the supporting software that will strengthen Bitcoin as an acceptable currency ー which was always the intention, rather than think about it purely as a speculative trade. In the meantime, Song said he predicts "more pain to come" in the crypto markets, noting that Bitcoin investors are used to the roller-coaster ride.
"This sort of thing happens all the time," he said of Bitcoin's most recent drop, noting that at [one point](https://twitter.com/Xentagz/status/1065332934721368064) in 2011 it lost 94 percent of its value in five months.
A year-and-a-half later, Bitcoin was back to an all-time high.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/bitcoin-10-years-later-inside-cryptocurrency-philosophy).
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield is leaving the ice cream brand after 47 years. He says the freedom the company used to have to speak up on social issues has been stifled
The Trump administration has issued its first warnings to online services that offer unofficial versions of popular drugs like the blockbuster obesity treatment Wegovy.
Oracle soars as it cashes in on the AI boom, Plus: Starbucks shares continue to fall under its new CEO, and does anybody actually want a new iPhone Air?
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
