The Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation gathered in Jackson Hole on May 14 and 15 for its first meeting of the interim. They discussed topics like right to repair and AI in government, and heard updates from the Wyoming Stable Token Commission. The committee’s next meeting will be July 10 in Casper.
Blockchain updates
The executive director of the Wyoming Stable Token Commission, Anthony Apollo, provided the committee with updates on the progress of the Wyoming Stable Token. The commission is still prepared for a July 4 release date.
Apollo described the token as a “virtual currency, representative of and redeemable for $1 U.S., held in trust by Wyoming.”
The commission went out of its way to emphasize the definition of the stable token as a token, citing some public officials' belief that the token is a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Last year, the Legislature passed a bill prohibiting state agencies from requiring payment in the form of CBCDs and from using public funds to help test a CBCD, which Apollo referenced in defense of the token.
“Despite that clarification and the very clear delineation between CBDC and what we're doing, we still had [Rep.] Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota), who serves as the GOP majority whip, characterize our offering as a CBDC,” said Apollo.
Emmer in March told the technology media company Decrypt, “I respect the vote of the Wyoming people, however, I personally am vehemently against any government issuing a tokenized version of its currency … At the federal level, this would be considered a central bank digital currency.”
Committee Cochair Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) said the committee should do more to rectify misunderstandings like these.
"I think we can do a lot to be a little proactive in communicating to stakeholders a little bit about our stable token, and how it isn't a CBDC, and how it is backed, and how it's not mining a new currency," said Rothfuss.
Apollo also announced the commission is accepting public comments on proposed rules for procurement and public records requestsuntil May 27, and on proposed rules for reserves management through June 30.
Alongside public comment, the stabletoken is currently in an “alpha phase” or test pilot phase, with mock tokens that currently hold no value being tested on multiple platforms.
Between these two milestones, Apollo said that Wyoming was in a unique position.
“If we are able to promulgate our rules set first, this will be the first rule set around stable coins in the United States of America,” said Apollo.
Committee Cochair Rep. Dainel Singh (R-Cheyenne) was interested in the future of tokens, asking Apollo about tokenized real world assets.
“There is interest, conversation that's being had in perhaps expanding the scope of what the stable token is able to do, [if it is] able to represent things like gold or any other commodity, such as oil or rare earth minerals.hat are your thoughts on that?” Singh asked.
“I've been in this industry for about 10 years,” said Apollo in response. [There’s] always kind of seasons. It was NFTs [non-fungible tokens], it was DeFi [decentralized finance], it's been DAOs [decentralized autonomous organization], now it's stable coins. We've seen a large proliferation of this industry, but if I had to put my money down, I do think that real-world assets are next.”
AI in government
Lawmakers also spent time hearing from experts in the artificial intelligence industry and reviewing how other states are handling developments.
Rep. Lee Filer (R-Cheyenne) said “it’s in our communities” referring to AI. He suggested everyone in the room had at least one interaction with AI. Filer inquired as to how to protect individuals from abuse while not over-regulating an emerging industry. Rothfuss held similar concerns.
Dazza Greenwood, a legal tech consultant and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, gave a presentation to the committee on the current state of AI. After Greenwood’s presentation, Rothfuss expressed concern about generative AI's massive resource usage for both illegal activity and combating illegal activity.
“It seems like, regrettably, the counter to [AI phishing emails] is to now employ AI to try to counter AI actively in this space, leading to the near-term heat death of the universe as a response to just trying to get through e-mail fraud. I mean, is there a better approach to it than that, or is that the direction we're currently headed?” asked Rothfuss.
“I'm pretty confident that that's where we're headed … but at the same time, I'm also confident that there's countermeasures that we can find,” said Greenwood.
Greenwood suggested workers adopt similar security measures to those of military members operating “behind enemy lines.”
“But now, civilians should learn how to have a safe word, one that they do not ever tell anybody else so you can distinguish whether the entity that's called you on the phone that … sounds just like your cousin and … maybe looks like your cousin on video, that you have some last ditch way to disambiguate them.”
The committee said it’s interested in crafting legislation to address these concerns. Filer said he was interested in two other state legislatures' approaches to AI. One is California Senate Bill 813, which created public-private entities to oversee AI makers. The other is the Texas Legislature’s creation of an AI council.
Right-to-repair
Another focus for the committee is right-to-repair (RTR). RTR concerns a consumer's ability to repair equipment without depending on the parts or repair that is only available through the original manufacturer of the product. Laws related to RTR can impact farmers, iPhone users and even military equipment.
The committee heard from five members of the public, all speaking in favor of right-to-repair laws, including I-Fix-It CEO Kyle Wiens. Lawmakers asked him if right-to-repair laws have incentivised some manufacturers to “tap out” of a market, specifically in Colorado, after the state passed RTR legislation.
“No, they have not,” said Wiens. “We see them continue to sell. I think they're more interested in violating the statute and then dealing with that through legal means later than withdrawing from a market."
Lawmakers appeared in agreement and intent on pursuing right-to-repair legislation in the interest of local farmers and ranchers. While the committee did not draft legislation this time around, Singh and Rothfuss appear equally intent on bringing regulations “to empower” and not “to restrict” growing sectors like AI and blockchain.
