In brief
- Wyoming lawmakers have been talking about introducing a stablecoin since 2022.
- The asset, WYST, is now targeted to launch on August 20 during the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium.
- This week, the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, which would create a legal framework for stablecoins.
The Cowboy State moved one step closer to issuing its own stablecoin.
The state-backed Wyoming Stable Token Commission said this week that the WYST cryptocurrency’s debut will likely occur on August 20 at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Jackson.
Wyoming lawmakers have been planning a stablecoin for its citizens since 2022. This spring, lawmakers announced that it was targeted to launch in July and could run across several major crypto networks, including Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and Ethereum scaling networks Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism.
“WYST is a public good,” Anthony Apollo, executive director of Wyoming’s Stable Token Commission, told Decrypt.
“Our statute dictates that the interest earned on the reserves backing the token will get swept into the School Foundation Fund on a quarterly basis,” he added, referring to the yield the stablecoins produce.
He said that along with the state’s collaboration with crypto interoperability protocol LayerZero, the stablecoin may launch on several networks simultaneously.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to be non-volatile, and are typically pegged to the value of US dollars.
Private companies typically issue such tokens, which have traditionally been used by traders to enter and exit transactions on digital asset exchanges, and run on a number of major crypto networks, or blockchains.
Now, banks, major companies—including Meta and Amazon, reportedly—and U.S. states are all interested in issuing the crypto tokens, which are supposed to speed up payments using blockchain technology.
Wyoming’s announcement comes just a few days after the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, which establishes a regulatory framework for the token and underscores the growing importance of these tokens.
The House of Representatives is now weighing the legislation with President Donald Trump urging passage.
Wyoming has been at the forefront of states supporting more crypto-friendly regulation and the widening use of digital assets. Prominent American crypto exchange Kraken on Friday announced that it was relocating its headquarters to Wyoming capital Cheyenne, acknowledging the state as a “a pioneer in crypto regulation.”
Edited by James Rubin
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.