Legislators and financial experts in Wyoming have formed a task force and are drafting legislation to enable the creation of a bank-like financial institution to support blockchain companies in the state.
The Wyoming State Legislature, in a draft bill[1], has found that the sector's rapid innovation has resulted in actors being "unable to access secure and reliable banking services," which has "hampered development of blockchain services and products in the marketplace."
To let these innovative new companies know Wyoming is "open for business," the state's blockchain task force – a group of 10 senators, representatives, and finance executives – are working on new legislation that could lead to the creation of one or more "special purpose depository institutions" (SPDIs). The concept is not necessarily new; a credit card bank could be classed as a SPDI, whereas a national bank would be classified as a "federal depository institution."
A Wyoming SPDI, as per the draft bill, would be a mutual corporation licensed as a Wyoming money transmitter. Though it would not offer loans, it would be able to hold and exchange balances of cryptocurrency and exchange between fiat and cryptocurrency. The SPDI would need to maintain a 100 percent cash reserve to match its virtual currency accounts.
According to the bill, an SPDI would also need to have a physical branch in Wyoming and be a working part of the federal banking system. It would also be open to businesses outside of the state, subject to the laws of the host state. All business customers would be required to hold a minimum balance of $100,000 in either fiat or cryptocurrency.
A staff comment on the bill specifically points to the absolute necessity of federal regulatory compliance and asserts that the "institution is not merely an artifice
