Home goods e-retailer and online marketplace Overstock.com has long been a supporter of cryptocurrencies.
Overstock was one on the first online retailers to accept bitcoin payments in 2014 and that same year it founded Medici Ventures Inc., its wholly owned blockchain subsidiary focused on applying blockchain technologies to existing industries to “eliminate middlemen, democratize capital, and rehumanize commerce,” the retailer says. Blockchain is the digital record of transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.
Now, the e-commerce company, No. 32 in the Internet Retailer 2018 Top 1000, says it plans to pay a portion of its Ohio state business taxes in bitcoin using the state’s new cryptocurrency taxpayer platform, OhioCrypto.com.
Overstock says it plans to pay its commercial activity taxes (CAT) in Ohio this February using the recently launched platform. Ohio is the first U.S. state to offer a cryptocurrency payment system for state business taxes. Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency currently eligible for payment at OhioCrypto.com, Although Ohio “looks forward to adding other cryptocurrencies in the future,” according to a release issued by Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel. Ohio taxpayers will send their tax payments to BitPay, which will process the payments and convert the bitcoin to dollars before depositing them into a state account.
“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,” said Overstock CEO and founder Patrick Byrne in a release.
In an email exchange, Medici Ventures president and Overstock.com board member Jonathan Johnson says Overstock will explore paying taxes with crypto with any state that offers it in the future.
“We applaud Overstock for becoming the first national brand in America to register to pay taxes via cryptocurrency,” Mandel says. “Their embrace of blockchain technology was ahead of its time and we’re proud to have them join OhioCrypto.com,”
Overstock says roughly .25% of its sales on its e-commerce site are now paid for using cryptocurrency, which for the third quarter, Overstock’s most recently reported quarter, amounts to about $1.1 million. In late 2017, Byrne announced plans to to sell Overstock.com to focus more on his blockchain business. In November, he said the sale could go through as early as February. Overstock didn’t respond to a request for comment on the progress or timing of the sale.