One of our favorite crypto content creators is Laura Shin, an illuminating podcast host. An episode that caught our attention was her recent interview with Caitlin Long, a leader who successfully pursued some of the most progressive blockchain-friendly legislation in Wyoming.

Listen to Laura’s interview with Caitlin Long of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition.

Thanks to the efforts of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, the Wyoming legislature has passed five bills to foster the blockchain and technology industry in the state.

Long, a Wyoming native, and her Wyoming Blockchain Coalition collaborators were inspired to press for the laws after trying to donate to a charitable cause via Bitcoin, and finding that the state has some of the most restrictive laws in the country regarding money transfers. The advocates and the lawmakers were able to completely turn the state around and make it the most blockchain-friendly in the country, with the promise of technological advancements to come.

The most innovative law passed in Wyoming exempts utility tokens from typical investment oversights. Here’s a helpful definition from Ethnews’ Matthew de Silva:

Basically, there are three types of blockchain-based tokens. First, there are convertible virtual currencies, like bitcoin, which have been defined as commodities by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC). Second, there are tokens that are marketed and treated as investment opportunities, similar to stocks. These are frequently sold through initial coin offerings (ICOs) and typically trade on secondary markets. Third, there are tokens that are “utility tokens,” meaning that they are made available by a person or group who provides or creates the platform to offer some good or service. Wyoming’s legislature is trying to carve out an exemption for the third variety — these “utility tokens” — which might encourage blockchain-oriented business development in the state.

What’s really worthy of highlighting here, is the diversity of blockchain applications that these bills emphasize. It’s very exciting to see a body, run by officials with lay-people’s knowledge of crypto, highlighting the many possible uses of crypto beyond the currency application (Bitcoin) which the general public usually associates with blockchain. This progress is valuable, and will undoubtedly have ripple effects to other states, especially as crypto advocates can begin to point to economic advantages coming to Wyoming because of their progress.

We need models for crypto friendly regulations, to help give the industry a firm foundation and widen the audience for nuanced discussions of blockchain, while also benefiting the locale. Wyoming has set a very high bar — where will the innovation occur?