Wyoming wants to become America’s crypto capital
IN 2021 Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told the Senate Banking Committee that cryptocurrency assets were “like the Wild West”. It perhaps makes sense, then, that one of the places most interested in fostering a crypto industry is Wyoming—the Cowboy State.
Wyoming has passed more than two dozen laws on digital assets since 2019, according to Bloomberg, more than any other state. Why does America’s least-populous state want to become a crypto capital? “Wyoming is heavily reliant on our mineral extractive industry,” says Chris Rothfuss, one of two Democrats in the state Senate and the chair of a committee on fintech. Crypto, he argues, could help diversify its economy.
Crypto has bipartisan support: its financial libertarianism appeals to small-government-loving Wyomingites. Digital assets, says Mr Rothfuss, let people “have privacy” and “prevents the government from telling them what to do”. Even the implosion of FTX and crash of crypto markets last year has not dented Wyoming’s dreams. It wants to issue a stablecoin (a class of cryptocurrency) backed by US Treasury bills.
2023-09-14 06:55:18
Link from www.economist.com
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