Wyoming, one of the most small business friendly states, has introduced legislation that would exempt some cryptocurrencies from falling under the purview of securities laws.
What are going to be protected are "utility tokens," which developers will be able to freely use as long as they are not mass marketed as a security would be.
Another bitcoin bill, HB19, has been circulating through the Wyoming legislature, which would exempt cryptocurrencies from being regulated by the state's money transmission laws.
By pushing forward these bills, Wyoming is presenting itself as a would-be home for US-based ICOs. For years a Wyoming limited liability company represented one of the most anonymous and protected legal forms of incorporation throughout the US. By continuing to push along this type of crypto-friendly legislation, good things are to come for this Midwest state largely not beholden to mainstay corporate interests such as banks and other financial-establishment entities as compared to New York, Florida, and California.
This is in stark contrast to Tennessee's move to introduce bills that would block public retirement funds from investing any of their portfolio in crypto-assets. People, especially lawmakers, simply are afraid of that which they don't understand. Cryptocurrencies' performance relative to the market over the past few years speaks for itself and by barring investment managers from carving out even the smallest portion of their tremendous assets is a disservice to these pensioners.