Interpretive Guidance 2022-01 — Licensing of Cryptocurrency Businesses Pursuant to the Ohio Money Transmitters Act

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Research, not advice. Part of the Bitcoin research archive (October 2026). Claims labelled unverified, contested or fringe are reported, not endorsed; statuses of bills and rules are as of the date checked. Government, court and patent records are public domain; the research notes are CC BY 4.0.

Mike DeWine, Governor      Sheryl Maxfield, Director
      Jon Husted, Lt. Governor

                                       Interpretive Guidance 2022-01
       This guidance document supersedes and replaces Interpretive Guidance 2020-01
      Subject:           Licensing of Cryptocurrency Businesses Pursuant to the Ohio Money
                         Transmitters Act

      Definition of money transmission under the OMTA
      Under the Ohio Money Transmitters Act (“OMTA”) the term “transmit money” means to receive,
      directly or indirectly and by any means, money or its equivalent from a person and to deliver, pay,
      or make accessible, by any means, method, manner, or device, whether or not a payment
      instrument is used, the money received or its equivalent to the same or another person, at the
      same or another time, and at the same or another place, but does not include transactions in
      which the recipient of the money or its equivalent is the principal or authorized representative of
      the principal in a transaction for which the money or its equivalent is received, other than the
      transmission of money or its equivalent. See R.C. 1315.01(G). For purposes of the OMTA, the
      Division considers cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, to be money or its equivalent.

      Licensing requirements for cryptocurrency businesses
      Under Ohio law, money transmission encompasses receiving and transmitting money or its
      equivalent from one person to the same or another person, at the same at or another time, and
      at the same or another place. Therefore, in general a person engaged in the buying or selling of
      cryptocurrency as a business qualifies as a money transmitter for the purposes of the OMTA and
      must obtain an Ohio money transmitter license before the person provides services to Ohioans.
      Examples of cryptocurrency service providers who must obtain a money transmitter license
      pursuant to the OMTA include:
          •    Persons operating cryptocurrency kiosks or cryptocurrency ATMs. A person who
               operates a cryptocurrency kiosk or ATM to facilitate the exchange of cryptocurrency for
               fiat currency or another type of cryptocurrency, or fiat currency to cryptocurrency, is a
               money transmitter under the OMTA unless the company operating the kiosk or ATM can
               conclusively verify in all instances that the individual conducting the transaction is the
77 South High Street                                                                                    614 | 728 8400
21st Floor                                                                                          Fax 614 | 644 1631
Columbus, Ohio 43215-6120 U.S.A.                                                               TTY/TDD 800 | 750 0750

                                          An Equal Opportunity Employer and Service Provider    www.com.ohio.gov
      Ohio Department of Commerce

              owner of the wallet receiving the funds. It does not matter whether the kiosk/ATM operator
              draws upon its own cryptocurrency in its possession or whether the operator connects to
              a cryptocurrency exchanger to effectuate the transaction.
          •   Persons operating an exchange platform who facilitate the transfer of fiat or virtual
              currencies. A person that facilitates transfers of one type of cryptocurrency to another
              type of cryptocurrency, or cryptocurrency for fiat currency (or vice versa) is a money
              transmitter.
          •   Persons providing cryptocurrency storage via a hosted wallet. A person that acts as
              an intermediary or provides an account to receive, store, and transmit virtual currency on
              behalf of another is a money transmitter. If the person interacts with the payment system
              on behalf of the owner of the virtual currency or has total independent control over the
              value of the virtual currency, the person is a money transmitter. A person that facilitates
              the creation of a wallet (by creating software) but does not interact with the payment
              system of have independent control over the value is generally not a money transmitter.
              Similarly, a person that creates a wallet that requires more than one private key for the
              wallet owner(s) to effect transactions (multiple-signature wallets) and restricts its role to
              maintaining possession of one key for additional validation is generally not a money
              transmitter.
          •   Persons providing payment processing services involving virtual currency. A
              person that acts as an intermediary to enable merchants to accept virtual currency from
              customers in exchange for goods and services is a money transmitter. Although the OMTA
              has an exclusion for traditional payment processors, payment processors that transmit
              virtual currency do not satisfy the exclusion as they do not operate entirely through clearing
              and settlement systems that only admit BSA-regulated financial institutions as members.

77 South High Street                                                                              614 | 728 8400
21st Floor                                                                                    Fax 614 | 644 1631
Columbus, Ohio 43215-6120 U.S.A.                                                         TTY/TDD 800 | 750 0750

                                    An Equal Opportunity Employer and Service Provider    www.com.ohio.gov