Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign for Ohio governor has gone largely silent on cryptocurrency policy, even as the candidate retains personal exposure to digital assets exceeding $170 million through shares in his asset management firm.

The Republican announced his gubernatorial bid in February 2025, roughly two years after ending his 2024 presidential campaign. During that earlier White House run, Ramaswamy built a public record of crypto advocacy, speaking at Bitcoin for America in March 2025 and Bitcoin 2025 in May. He opposed central bank digital currencies and posted in support of the Ohio Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve Act before launching his state campaign.

What crypto holdings does Ramaswamy maintain?

Ramaswamy co-founded Strive in 2022. An August filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed he owned 5,693,897 shares in the company, valued at more than $170 million as of Sept. 26.

Strive reported holding 23,156 BTC, worth roughly $2 billion, as of Aug. 28. In September 2025, the firm announced plans to enter the digital asset market with a Bitcoin Bond ETF focused on bonds issued by companies acquiring BTC.

Ramaswamy also disclosed personally holding more than $1,000 in BTC and Ether through a Coinbase wallet as of April.

Who is funding the campaign?

Ramaswamy's campaign website accepts crypto donations. Federal disclosures show maximum contributions of $16,615 each from Chase Herro, Zak Folkman and Zachary Witkoff, co-founders of the Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial.

His Super political action committee, V-PAC: Victors, Not Victims, has drawn larger crypto-aligned checks:

• $20 million from Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeff Yass
• $6 million from NYDIG founder Ross Stevens
• $5 million from Elon Musk
• $5,000 from the Bitcoin Voter Project

Cointelegraph reached out to the Ramaswamy campaign but did not receive a response to repeated interview requests.

Why is crypto not central to the Ohio race?

Ohio voters showed pronounced skepticism toward digital assets in a May 2024 Digital Currency Group poll. Seventy-nine percent of state respondents said they had never held crypto, and 77% expressed negative views of the sector.

Industry spending has nonetheless intensified. Crypto-aligned PACs spent more than $40 million in Ohio during the 2024 cycle to back Republican Bernie Moreno's successful Senate challenge to Democrat Sherrod Brown. Brown is now running against Republican Jon Husted, and the Fairshake PAC has pledged $30 million opposing the Democrat, reporting $11 million in ad buys.

Ramaswamy has not publicly addressed a Sept. 17 notice from Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announcing that the state would accept cryptocurrency for fees and services.

How have data centers reshaped the debate?

Ohio hosted 166 data centers as of April, according to the Pew Research Center, more than any other US state. The facilities include crypto mining operations run by Cipher Mining, Bitdeer and BIT Mining.

Public polling shows most Ohio residents oppose new data centers in their communities. In August, Ramaswamy pledged that any center built in the state would carry no electricity cost for residents and would lower property taxes. His Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, has proposed that "all costs for gas, water and electricity needs to be covered by data centers and their investors, not Ohio taxpayers or our communities."

What does the polling show?

An average of RealClearPolling data through Sept. 22 placed Acton one point ahead of Ramaswamy, rendering the race a statistical tie. A Kalshi event contract carried more than $2 million in volume and gave the Democrat a 66% chance of winning, with a Polymarket contract showing similar odds.

With the election one month away, the Ohio governor's race will resolve against a backdrop of expanding state-level crypto infrastructure and unresolved questions about who pays for the power grid that supports it.