Digital retail giant Overstock.com plans to pay at least some of its taxes using BTCUSD this year.
The company announced on its Thursday that it would pay some of its state commercial activity taxes in Ohio using BTCUSD, becoming the first major business to do so. Ohio announced last year that it would allow businesses to pay taxes in BTCUSD, though the payments would be converted into dollars by a third party before the state accepted them.
In a statement, Overstock CEO and founder Patrick Byrne said the company was “proud to partner” with the Ohio government “to help usher in an era of trust through technology for our nation’s essential financial systems,” adding:
“We have long thought that thoughtful governmental adoption of emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies (when accompanied by non-restrictive legislation over these technologies) is the best way to ensure the U.S. does not lose our place at the forefront of the ever-advancing global economy.”
Ohio announced in that it would accept BTCUSD for tax payments through a three-step process, where businesses sign up on the OhioCrypto.com portal, enter tax details and transmit the payment using a compatible BTCUSD wallet.
bitcoin processor BitPay would then convert the cryptocurrency into a U.S. dollar equivalent, which would be passed to the office of the Ohio Treasurer.
Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel praised Overstock’s move, saying the company’s “embrace of blockchain technology was ahead of its time” in a statement Thursday.
Overstock has been accepting BTCUSD as payment for purchases , and a subsidiary, , acts as an investment wing in blockchain startups. The company is also developing a security token trading platform called .
Byrne has said he plans to sell the flagship retail business , which would leave the company with .
Overstock did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Patrick Byrne image via CoinDesk archives
Published at Thu, 03 Jan 2019 17:00:45 +0000
