Bitcoin Forum

A San Francisco-based company that creates online accounts for people with Bitcoin is dropping Wyoming customers due to what it's calling impractical state law.

[...]

Coinbase, a company that creates accounts on which customers can store their bitcoins or transfer them to other people or businesses, recently sent emails to Wyomingites, saying they had 30 days to close their accounts, because state’s law is impractical for doing business.

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http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/critics-state-law-makes-it-difficult-to-use-bitcoin-in/article_60af7604-4a98-57d3-ae87-14d4928c9920.html

Read the article again, "it make it almost impossible to use Bitcoin for a transaction from Wyoming, which could be a problem because the currency is on the rise." This sounds pretty damning to using Bitcoin at all, for transactions at least! Hodling seems to still be OK though.

State laws are state laws. Has nothing to do with Bitcoin, some state laws are outdated and need to be revamped all the time to meet new regulations and such. Good read, but Wyoming will have to come around soon enough.

they can still use it directly to buy thing online, you don't really need coinbase to do it, you can pay with bitcoin in many online shop already in the USA

remember that bitcoin isn't born to be used around a centralized system like coinbase bitpay and all these

What state law did Coinbase refer to though? There doesn't seem to be any specifics about this "law".

The problem comes in with the old outdated Wyoming Money Transmitters Act – which requires licensees hold in cash, CDs, securities or other authorized investments in the amount of money that’s being transferred digitally.
Some of these companies cannot adhere to these requirements and are forced to exclude Wyoming from their services. Here is the source for the legislation : http://legisweb.state.wy.us/statutes/statutes.aspx?file=titles/Title40/T40CH22.htm

What does CD mean in this context?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_deposit

That quote was made by Robert Godby, an economics and finance professor at the University of Wyoming.  He doesn't explain why he thinks that.  The only situation that I can think of where it would be illegal in Wyoming for an individual to send a bitcoin transaction is if the total value (in U.S. dollars) of the bitcoin transaction was greater than the total assets (in cash, CDs, securities or other authorized investments) that the sender holds.

Perhaps Mr. Godby would be so kind as to explain what other scenarios I'm not thinking of?

The problem is if they start inspecting the customs and open the packages to see what was used to pay for it, and start banning every single package that was paid in BTC outside their regulatory platforms...

If your in Wyoming stay away from Coinbase, if you use coinbase stay away from wyoming, simple tasking, i guess democracy is fair at some point with states creating their own laws at some point they will learn the hard way or get hit hard by their voters with criticism for having laws affecting their economy growth.

http://s24.postimg.org/surhryiz9/ncc.jpg

You do realize that the interview was conducted at Fred Flintstone's home, eh?

This isn't really news that effects anybody really. If you want to use bitcoin in that area you can use BTC in that area. They can't really stop you, there are ways around this. The only way Wyoming (I'm British & have literally never heard of this town/area) can stop the use of BTC is by stopping the internet which is never happening. If CoinBase is the problem then just use another wallet or exchange - simples. Nothing to see here people, move along.

Oh please ... even in the antartic, you can send a transaction in Bitcoin network ...  ::)

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/unstoppables-club-accepts-bitcoin-in-the-antarctic16916/

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/images/yell_location_map.gif

Wyoming is the 10th most extensive, but the least populous and the second least densely populated of the 50 United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High Plains. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming, with a population estimate of 62,448 in 2013. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming)

Yellowstone National Park (Arapaho: Henihco'oo or Héetíhco'oo)[4] is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.[5][6] Yellowstone, widely held to be the first national park in the world,[7] is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park.[8] It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Old_Faithful_Geyser_Yellowstone_National_Park.jpg/800px-Old_Faithful_Geyser_Yellowstone_National_Park.jpg
Old Faithful Geyser erupts approximately every 91 minutes.

Forgive me for not being able to find the town of British on any map.  :P

I thought it was called Jellystone?

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/10/100757/1951908-yogi_bear.jpg

Wyoming is bad news because states without regulation look to current state laws for examples. Is anyone doing a count of which states are making it difficult or impossible to use Bitcoin? I know there's New York and now Wyoming, are there any others?

A lot of states don't allow licensed US bitcoin sellers and buyers like Coinbase to do business with their citizens. I am in one of those states actually (Virginia). I don't know the reasoning, if any, behind it.

Really? I had no idea it was widespread. The only thing I ever heard about Virginia was that senator nut job that wanted to ban Bitcoin in the U.S.

Which piece of legislation are you referring to exactly?  I've paid Virginia personal income taxes on my bitcoin to fiat transactions and never had a problem (and to the IRS.)  All exchanges that do business with the United States are currently doing business in Virginia without exception.

Coinbase, every exchange - never had a problem.  My bank is also Virginia based and it does business with Coinbase.  Even my CPA has said that it is perfectly legal as long as taxes are paid treating it as a commodity in Virginia and as a digital currency with the IRS.

It's not a surprise that you've never heard of it. It's a really small place.  For example, by comparison:

https://i.imgur.com/sg9iHMM.png

and

https://i.imgur.com/UGxPHke.png

I really, really, really wish this was true....but it simply is not.
Voters in the United States are mostly lazy and ill informed. Wyoming will never be accused of being the hotbed of emerging tech in any sector, and frankly im surprised anyone in politics knows how to spell bitcoin.

The good news for the younger generations is that time doesnt stop. Eventually the older, close minded, often racist, sexist and homophobic, males in charge of politics in this country will die.

Hopefully with their passing, they will take all their old school, irrational, religious based style of governing with them to the grave.

Out dated nonsense has held our society back for too long.
Wake up Wyoming.....

Who cares if Wyoming likes Bitcoin or not. What is there like 5000 people in the whole friggin state? As long as they keep Jackson Hole ski resort open Wyoming is ok with me. Tensleep Bowl has some of my favorate ski runs in the world. Literally a hidden gem. I'd rather ski Jackson Hole than any resort in Colorado. I've never been there and seen a super long lift line.

I think you're confusing people with sheep. There's 600k sheep in Wyoming. I don't mean sheeple either. I mean little white furry things you make shepards pie out of. lol