Ohio governor candidate Ramaswamy backs uncapped pension crypto bill as his Strive loses $523 million

Vivek Ramaswamy is supporting House Bill 18, legislation that would explicitly allow Ohio’s five public pension systems to invest in cryptocurrency-linked products, as Strive Inc., the Bitcoin-focused company he co-founded, reports a $523.5 million net loss for the first half of 2026. The development has brought renewed attention to the risks surrounding the proposal, particularly because Strive also recorded a $523.8 million unrealized loss on digital assets during the same six-month period, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The legislation, known as the Ohio Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve Act, would amend state law to give the boards overseeing Ohio’s public retirement systems explicit authority to invest in qualifying exchange-traded products, including those offering exposure to cryptocurrency. Ramaswamy praised the proposal when it was introduced, calling it a “thoughtful & powerful bill.” However, House Bill 18 would not force any pension system to purchase Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency-linked asset. Individual retirement boards would retain authority over investment decisions and remain subject to their fiduciary responsibilities. The distinction has become particularly important because the legislation establishes a limit for certain state funds but does not impose the same ceiling on Ohio’s public pension assets. House Bill 18 has no matching cap for pension systems Under House Bill 18, the state treasurer would be restricted from investing more than 10% of certain state funds in qualifying digital assets. The provisions covering Ohio’s five public retirement systems contain no comparable percentage limit. Ohio’s House of Reps had passed bill allowing up to 200-dollar tax-free crypto payments recently. Together, the five pension systems oversee approximately $284 billion in assets. That means even a relatively modest allocation to cryptocurrency-linked investments could represent billions of dollars. A 1% allocation of the combined assets would amount to approximately $2.84 billion. If such an investment fell by 50%, the resulting decline would be roughly $1.42 billion. Those figures do not represent an investment plan announced by any Ohio pension system. Instead, they illustrate the potential scale of exposure available under the proposed framework. Strive’s Bitcoin strategy highlights investment volatility Strive has increasingly built its corporate strategy around Bitcoin and continued purchasing the cryptocurrency despite the losses reported during the first half of 2026. In an Aug. 31 SEC filing, the company disclosed that it purchased another 1,800 Bitcoin between Aug. 24 and Aug. 28 at an average price of approximately $79,431. Those purchases increased Strive’s Bitcoin holdings to 23,156 coins as of Aug. 28. The company's results have added another layer to the discussion surrounding House Bill 18, given Ramaswamy's connection to the company and his continued support for policies designed to increase Ohio's exposure to digital assets. An Aug. 26 SEC filing lists Ramaswamy as beneficially owning 5,693,897 Strive shares, representing 6.6% of the reported share class. The losses reported by Strive do not mean an Ohio pension fund would necessarily experience an equivalent decline if it invested in cryptocurrency. Public retirement systems generally operate differently from individual investment accounts and provide defined benefits based on formulas established under state law. However, investment performance remains important to their overall financial health. When asset values fall while pension obligations remain, funding gaps can widen, potentially increasing pressure for higher contributions, benefit adjustments or other measures to strengthen a retirement system. The broader risk is not exclusive to digital assets. The Pew Charitable Trusts has found that investment losses contributed to a $439 billion increase in the nationwide funding gap for state pension plans between fiscal years 2021 and 2022. House Bill 18 remains pending in Ohio House Ohio's experience also provides context for the debate. The State Teachers Retirement System has previously linked decisions concerning cost-of-living adjustments and other benefit changes to the fund's long-term financial condition. STRS Ohio has said that additional financial resources would strengthen its ability to consider sustainable benefit changes. As the company reports hundreds of millions of dollars in losses while expanding its Bitcoin holdings, House Bill 18 places the question of cryptocurrency exposure directly within Ohio's public pension debate. There is no evidence in the supplied report that Ramaswamy has directed an Ohio pension system to invest in cryptocurrency. Nor has House Bill 18 become law. The legislation remains pending in the Ohio House. The proposal also does not require pension systems to make cryptocurrency investments. Instead, it would provide explicit legal authority for qualifying investments while leaving individual decisions to the retirement boards. That distinction is central to the debate over House Bill 18. Supporters would have pension boards retain control over their portfolios, while the legislation's lack of a specific percentage ceiling for pension assets leaves the potential scale of cryptocurrency exposure open.