Wyoming Brings Regulations for Crypto Custody Platforms

The US state of Wyoming has introduced a new set of rules to regulate the digital asset custody platforms.

The regulations are opt-in and cover areas like forks, airdrops, and stalking. These rules are applicable to banks offering digital asset custodial services.

The rules were published by the state’s Blockchain taskforce at the Fordham Law Blockchain Regulatory Symposium in New York on Monday.

2/ Chris explained today that #Wyoming #SPDI, which is a state-chartered bank, is a passport into ~42 US states w/o need for addl state license. In the other states, such as NY, it may need to open a branch. Federal law protects parity of national banks & state-chartered banks...
— Caitlin Long ? (@CaitlinLong_) November 11, 2019

The framework defined the blockchain banks operated within the state special-purpose depository institutions (SPDIs).

“A qualified custodian shall maintain customer digital assets, funds and other securities which are not digital assets,” the framework noted.

“A bank shall not provide custodial services...in a manner that would likely impair the solvency or the safety and soundness of the bank, as determined by the Commissioner after considering the nature of custodial services customary in the banking industry.”

Clarifying rules to protect customers

The rules also specified that the customer would have the rights to additional tokens acquired due to airdrops, forks, and stalking, not the custodian unless it was specified in a written agreement.

“A bank and a customer shall agree in writing regarding the source code version the bank will use for each digital asset, and the treatment of each asset under the Uniform Commercial Code, title 34.1, Wyoming statutes, if necessary. Any ambiguity under this subsection shall be resolved in favor of the customer,” the rules added.

Wyoming is one of the few states in the United States to regulate the digital asset industry by introducing new legislation. The state Senate passed a bill this February to recognize Cryptocurrencies as moany. In addition to that, the state also passed multiple other bills on tokenization and industry compliance.