Ohio Blockchain Basics Act (HB 116)

HB 116 would define “digital asset” broadly to include virtual currencies, cryptocurrencies, native electronic assets, stablecoins, non-fungible tokens, and other digital-only assets that confer economic, proprietary, or access rights. It also defines blockchain, blockchain protocol, digital asset mining, hardware wallet, self-hosted wallet, node, staking, and staking services. These definitions anchor the bill’s treatment of digital asset activity across taxation, local-government authority, and state money-transmission law.

The House-passed bill would bar Ohio state agencies, instrumentalities, and political subdivisions from restricting an individual’s ability to accept digital assets as payment for legal goods or services. It would also protect individual custody through a hardware wallet or self-hosted wallet. This provision is framed as a limit on government restrictions; it does not require private businesses to accept digital assets.

HB 116 would allow a person to conduct digital asset mining in residentially zoned areas if the person complies with generally applicable local ordinances, resolutions, regulations, and orders. It would also allow a digital asset mining business to operate in industrially zoned areas if the business meets the requirements for industrial use. Political subdivisions would be barred from adopting rules specific to digital asset mining businesses unless those rules also apply to similarly situated businesses.

The bill would restrict Ohio counties, townships, and municipal corporations from imposing fees, taxes, assessments, or other charges on digital assets merely because they are used as payment for goods or services, while preserving charges that would apply if the same transaction used U.S. legal tender.

The bill would also amend Ohio tax law to create a deduction for capital gains from the sale of a digital asset used as payment for goods or services, provided the payment amount does not exceed the bill’s deduction threshold. The House-passed text sets the threshold at $200 for the first taxable year ending on or after the amendment’s effective date and directs annual inflation adjustments by the tax commissioner.

HB 116 would also amend Ohio money-transmitter treatment. A person would not need a money transmitter license solely for digital asset mining, staking, digital-asset-for-digital-asset exchange, developing or deploying software for such exchange, or operating nodes on a blockchain protocol. The bill also states that a business providing or offering digital asset mining or staking services is not considered to be offering a security or investment contract for purposes of Ohio Revised Code Chapter 1308.

The bill is limited to Ohio law and would not change federal securities, commodities, anti-money laundering, tax, or consumer protection requirements. Its practical significance is mainly in the proposed state-law boundaries it would set for Ohio public entities, Ohio political subdivisions, and Ohio licensing or tax treatment.

HB 116 was introduced in the Ohio House on February 24, 2025, and referred to the House Technology and Innovation Committee on February 26, 2025. The House reported a substitute bill and passed it on June 18, 2025, with a 70-26 floor vote. The bill was introduced in the Senate on June 24, 2025, and referred to the Senate Financial Institutions, Insurance and Technology Committee on June 25, 2025.

The current profile should be read as a bill-tracking reference, not a description of enacted Ohio law. Editors should monitor the Senate committee page, any subsequent substitute bill text, and Ohio Legislative Service Commission materials before treating the provisions as operative.