In early 2019, the Wyoming legislature enacted a flurry of laws aimed at establishing the state as a haven for businesses and investors that focus on blockchain and digital assets. These laws are designed to provide a legal framework for Wyoming's adoption and use of blockchain, and for transactions in digital assets in the state.
These are the most notable of these laws:
- HB62 establishes open blockchain tokens as intangible personal property not subject to a securities exemption.
- HB74 creates a charter for a special purpose depository institution to serve the banking needs of blockchain innovators.
- SB125 provides that digital assets are personal property and general intangibles under UCC Article 9, and investment property under UCC Article 8. Virtual currency is considered money only for purposes of UCC Article 9.
The state's initial program to adopt the use of distributed ledger technology for the maintenance and management of public land records has been successfully implemented and is in use today by Teton County. Public land records for Teton County may be searched online and results include the blockchain record maintaining the underlying scanned documents. The Wyoming Blockchain Taskforce is turning to other state projects under development.
It is unclear how successful Wyoming will be in its foray into digital assets, because federal regulatory agencies − specifically, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue Service − have issued somewhat conflicting positions on the treatment of digital assets which would preempt Wyoming's efforts. Additionally, Wyoming's classification of digital assets under its Uniform Commercial Code has been brought into question by the Uniform Law Commission for potential conflict with other established provisions of the UCC.
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