Wyoming Bill Wants To Define Crypto As Money

The state of Wyoming has just made a significant move in order to advance and legitimize cryptocurrencies, as well as businesses that offer or utilize the blockchain technology. The state reportedly put forward a bill that will clarify the very legal position of all digital assets, including those that are in custody via banks rather than the usual financial institutions.

The Bill Explained

Basically, the bill offers a total of three classifications of digital assets. These are none other than digital assets, digital securities, and virtual currencies. The latter, in particular, is important, as it will give all cryptocurrencies the same treatment that money within the state is receiving.

It is worth noting that the aforementioned classifications are not exactly new. However, they will be directly applied to digital assets so as to offer the much-needed clarification on where they exactly stand in terms of the law. According to the official report, the classification of a digital asset is deemed critical for the advancement of digital currencies, with the latter still predominantly working in a regulatory grey area in the United States.

As far as the custody of things is concerned, the aforementioned bill suggests that Wyoming will have the ability to authorize banks to opt out into a more enhanced supervision regime meant specifically for digital asset custody. This custody should be able to meet the requirements from SEC, particularly for the part that suggests “qualified custodians” in the umbrella of digital assets.

The Same Legal Status As Money

What the Wyoming Bill really wants to achieve when it comes to the classification of digital assets is that digital currencies must a legal status akin to money in terms of commercial law. Money, by essence, comes with “super-negotiability” rules that are all under the so-called Uniform Commercial Code or UCC Article 9, and the state wants to give the same definition.

Obviously, this would mean a huge benefit for all coin lending companies out there as the above-mentioned code suggests that a transferee of money must take the latter free of any security interest. However, this would not be the case if the transferee gets to act in collusion with the concerned debtor that is violating the rights of the more secured party.

In addition, it would mean that Bitcoin has the same legal status even without the involvement of any intermediary whatsoever. In other words, the law reflects and acknowledges the very nature of these peer-to-peer transactions involving digital currencies.