Wyoming Becomes the First State to Give Property Rights to Crypto Owners

By Swati Kishore

Good days are here for crypto proponents as the Senate in the State of Wyoming in the United States passed a bill that gives cryptocurrency investors direct property rights.

Reportedly, on February 13 and February 14, the Bill SF0125 passed its third and fourth readings by the Senate.

The bill is now slated to go before the Wyoming Governor, Mark Gordon, after which it will become a law by next week, tentatively.

The law provides Wyoming-based owners of cryptocurrency complete legal protection.

Hence, the State of Wyoming becomes the first to approve law changes that empower cryptocurrency owners.

Caitlin Long, who is a member of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition and also a Wall Street veteran, believes that the law will garner increased interest from crypto businesses and investors. Long said-

“This means that Blockchain companies will probably want to apply WY law to your contracts, domicile here, and/or have a physical presence here.”

State legislators across the United States have sole power over property rights. Different jurisdictions across the nation have differing stances on the matter. This combined with the crackdown on securities laws violations by the SEC has made it difficult for crypto-based businesses to set shop in the United States.

Long compared Wyoming to the financial capital of the world New York, saying that market participants will soon move base from NY to WY. Long explained-

“Wyoming protects (property rights, and) for institutional investors who must own indirectly, it protects (investors) far better than (New York) does. Have fun watching the transfer of capital away from NY (and) into WY in the coming years, (especially) as securities are increasingly issued on (blockchains.)”

Crypto businesses have been making a move to Wyoming even before the passing of the bill by the Senate.

Cardano moved base to the western state of Wyoming in January this year. Lawmakers in the state had passed a Blockchain bank bill in December 2018 despite heavy opposition.