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Ohio’s Data Center Gamble
Who Pays the Price — and Who Profits?
Ohio Is Already Paying the Price
Ohio Is Already Paying the Price
Ohio’s average residential electricity bill jumped 23.3% in a single year — the third-largest increase in the country — driven primarily by data center demand. Average families could pay $70 more per month by 2028.
Data centers have collected $2.5 billion in Ohio tax breaks since 2017, yet the state’s own tax break program cost 12 times more than projected in 2025 alone — ballooning to $1.6 billion. That’s money not going to schools, childcare, or public services.
Despite all this investment, only 11,791 Ohioans work in data centers statewide. Even the largest facilities employ fewer than 150 permanent workers. Policy Matters Ohio found some tax breaks amount to $1 million per job created.
The Ohio EPA is proposing a new wastewater permit that would allow data centers to discharge into Lake Erie and Ohio’s rivers under a “one-size-fits-all” process with minimal oversight — threatening decades of hard-won environmental cleanup. U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) stated: “Ohio should not compromise the integrity of our waterways to help data centers.”
10 of 14 Ohio economists surveyed agreed tax incentives for data centers are not an efficient use of public funds. One called it “the worst use of public funds I can think of.”
Ramaswamy’s Playbook: This Isn’t His First Time
Ramaswamy’s Playbook: This Isn’t His First Time
Before promising to make Ohio “the top state for business,” Vivek Ramaswamy ran a strikingly similar play in biotech:
In 2015, Ramaswamy bought a drug that had already failed four clinical trials for $5 million, hyped it publicly in media appearances, took it to a record-breaking $315 million biotech IPO, and cashed out nearly $40 million of personal stock while the hype was peaking. When the drug failed its Phase 3 trial in 2017, the stock lost 75% of its value overnight, wiping out thousands of retail investors.
His spokesperson first denied he made any money, before admitting the cash-out. Yale management professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld wrote that the behavior “almost resembled a classic pump-and-dump scheme.”
His company Strive later made similar moves: Ramaswamy sold nearly $200 million in Roivant stock right before its valuation shrank fivefold after its SPAC listing.
Now He’s Running the Same Play on Ohio Voters
Now He’s Running the Same Play on Ohio Voters
Ramaswamy’s own financial disclosure confirms he personally holds Bitcoin and Ethereum and owns ~10% of Strive, Inc. — a company he co-founded that has bet nearly $1 billion in corporate funds on Bitcoin at an average price of $105,850/coin. With Bitcoin trading well below that, Strive has reported over $500 million in unrealized losses.
As governor, Ramaswamy would control appointment of Ohio pension fund trustees overseeing $250 billion in public assets — and he’s already publicly praised legislation to invest up to 10% of Ohio’s state funds in Bitcoin. Every dollar Bitcoin rises helps him recover his losses.
His two largest super PAC donors are crypto billionaires: Ross Stevens ($14M) and Jeff Yass ($10M), who hold billions in Bitcoin and Coinbase. They are funding his campaign because they stand to profit directly from his policy agenda.
He publicly champions data center expansion for Ohio while never disclosing that his own company profits from Bitcoin mining — which data centers power — and blames rising electricity costs on insufficient fossil fuel production rather than the data centers themselves.
A former pension fund trustee and financial analyst warned: “I fear Ramaswamy, who through Strive is connected to the entire network of high-risk investments including both crypto and private equity, could take the corruption to the next level.”
The Bottom Line
Ohio is being asked to foot the bill — through higher electricity rates, depleted tax revenues, threatened water quality, and potentially public pension funds — for an industry that creates few permanent jobs and primarily enriches the very investors hyping it. Ramaswamy ran this play before in biotech. Ohioans deserve to ask: who benefits, and who is left holding the bag?
You are not the beneficiary.
You are the resource.
Mined by the playbook.
Ohio First. Ohio Eyes Open.
Key Sources
• Policy Matters Ohio — Data Center Tax Breaks
• Ohio Capital Journal — Economists on Data Center Incentives
• Alliance for the Great Lakes — Wastewater Permit Warning
• Fortune / Yale Insights — Sonnenfeld on Ramaswamy
• The American Prospect — Ramaswamy’s Crypto Gamble
• TiffinOhio.net — Ramaswamy Financial Disclosure
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