Wyoming is planning to launch its own stablecoin in July, with LayerZero as the issuance partner. The WYST stablecoin will use cash, Treasury bonds, and repurchasing agreements to maintain its peg to the US dollar.
The state is considering nine potential blockchains to host WYST. Recently, Wyoming’s fiscal conservatives balked at using state funds to buy Bitcoin. However, the stablecoin project is completely separate from the state’s Bitcoin reserve plan.
Stablecoins are becoming an increasingly popular topic in US government spaces, especially since President Trump recently claimed they will be an important part of global dollar dominance. Today, a state is seriously looking at a small-scale experiment, as Wyoming is partnering with LayerZero to launch its own stablecoin in July.
“We’re honored to be chosen by Wyoming as the token issuance partner for WYST, the first fiat-backed and fully-reserved stablecoin issued by a public entity in the United States. There’s no clearer signal of where finance is heading than a US state putting the dollar onchain,” LayerZero claimed via social media.
LayerZero is a prominent interoperability protocol, and it will issue Wyoming’s proposed stablecoin. The state is weighing nine potential blockchains, including Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon, to host it.
The state’s governor, Mark Gordon, announced this partnership at the DC Blockchain Summit. Interestingly, this plan does not seem to include Cynthia Lummis, one of the state’s Senators who has strongly advocated for crypto and stablecoin regulations. This will be the first time that a government entity is looking to launch its own stablecoin.
According to reports, Wyoming will include an ironclad reserve requirement for this stablecoin. Wyoming will back WYST stablecoins with cash, US Treasury bonds, and repurchase agreements, with a statutory requirement of 102% capitalization.
Apparently, the plan is to use the interest accrued from these assets to fund things like education and infrastructure.
Previously, Senator Lummis supported a Bitcoin Reserve bill in Wyoming, but it died in Committee despite the state’s strong Republican presence. Wyoming’s fiscal conservatives didn’t want to use tax dollars to buy Bitcoin; will they agree to fund stablecoin reserves?
Hopefully, it won’t come to that. The state of Wyoming has $31 billion in investments including US Treasury bonds, not to mention its own cash resources.
Ideally, some of these assets could be directed to the WYST project, and a small-scale success could lead to bigger commitments. This experiment could provide very intriguing results.