Wyoming


If you haven't been paying attention to what's going on in one of the most progressive states in the nation (yeah, Wyoming), well you should. Wyoming's legislature has been very aggressive the past couple of years enacting legislation to attract blockchain businesses. To make doing business there attractive for these firms, they are now clarifying the legal position of digital assets. How? Wyoming has introduced a bill that would give virtual currencies (bitcoin) the very same treatment as "regular" money within the state. How is this getting done and enacted so quickly? With only 400,000+ people in Wyoming its easy to get get agreement on legislation and move forward quickly (just look at Gibraltar --only 35,000 people). To read more on how they are doing it, see below.

(Bill Taylor/Fintek Capital)


"In a significant move for the advancement and legitimization of cryptocurrencies and blockchain businesses in the United States, Wyoming has introduced a bill that aims to clarify the legal position of digital assets, as well as offer digital asset custody through banks rather than financial institutions.

The Bill offers three classifications of digital assets; digital securities, digital assets, and most importantly, virtual currencies which give cryptocurrencies the same treatment as money within the state.

These classifications are nothing new, but instead, they would be applied to digital assets to offer clarification on where they stand in the law. This classification of virtual assets is critical for the advancement of cryptocurrencies which still predominantly operate in a regulatory grey area in the US.

On the custody side of things, the Bill means that Wyoming could authorize banks to opt into an enhanced supervision regime for digital asset custody, which is designed to meet the SEC’s requirements for “qualified custodians” of digital assets.

The custody advancement for cryptocurrencies in Wyoming is also notable as it would be done through a bank, but the bank itself would not be taking deposits of digital assets – these would be “assets under administration” rather than bank deposits..."


Full Story at Forbes.com