Wyoming Aims to Be America’s Cryptocurrency Capital

Wyoming is about 1,000 miles from Silicon Valley and even farther from wealthy East Coast investors. But the Cowboy State is hitching its wagon to the virtual currency craze, bidding to reinvent itself as the most crypto-friendly state in the U.S.

Republican Governor Matt Mead signed sweeping legislation in March that makes limited liability corporation laws friendlier to blockchain companies, enshrines “open blockchain tokens”—also known as “utility tokens,” a type of digital currency that can be redeemed for goods and services—as an asset class, and exempts cryptocurrency, taxed by the IRS as physical property, from state property taxes. That’s led scores of companies with “crypto” or “blockchain” in their names to register in the state. “This is one of the most exciting things that I have seen in a decade as far as the possibilities,” says David Pope, an accountant who’s also executive director of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, which lobbied for the changes. “The more traction and the more ground we can gain toward Delaware”—known for its friendliness to LLCs—“the better for the state of Wyoming.” Pope says his business has been contacted by more than a dozen companies looking into registering in the state.