The U.S. state of Wyoming passed the amendment last month, and it will come into effect from July, according to information from the Wyoming State Legislature, the legislative branch of the state. The new law states that an insurance company might invest in “digital assets, as defined by W.S. 34‑29‑101(a) (i) and excluding digital consumer assets as defined by W.S. 34-29-101(a) (ii).” The state law defines digital assets as “a representation of economic, proprietary or access rights that are stored in a computer-readable format, and includes digital consumer assets, digital securities, and virtual currency,”
“The first provision of its kind in the nation.”
U.S.-based law firm Kramer Levin (1) believes that the amendment is apparently the first provision of its kind in the country. However, whether insurance companies take advantage of this law remains to be seen, the firm added. Kramer Levin further said that this is because insurance companies are traditionally conservative with their investment portfolios, and investing in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin is not in their portfolios.
Wyoming continues to remain a crypto and blockchain-friendly state.
The U.S. state of Wyoming is one of the most crypto and blockchain-friendly state in the country. Over the past couple of years, Wyoming has passed a series of laws, including recognizing cryptocurrency as money and allowing favorable tax treatment of crypto, among several other measures. CEO of Wyoming-based crypto bank Avanti, Caitlin Long, said that most likely insurance companies would offer crypto investment as part of variable life policies rather than whole life since the NAIC capital charge will be high. With the new law passed, Wyoming continues to remain one most crypto and blockchain-friendly states in the United States of America.
Earlier, the subsidiary of Overstock’s venture arm, Medici Ventures, Medici Land Governance (MLG), announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Carbon County in Wyoming, to build a blockchain-based land record and information platform. MLG had also entered a similar agreement with Teton county in 2018
