World Liberty Financial reported lobbying on House Bills 586 and 821, two versions of legislation that would authorize the state to use a type of cryptocurrency called stablecoin, which has values tied to more traditional currency, like the U.S. dollar.
The bill would also create a regulatory framework for the use of stablecoin.
The proposed state legislation largely follows the federal “GENIUS Act,” signed into law in July, allowing states to create their own regulatory framework for the particular type of cryptocurrency.
Manwaring told the Sun in an email that he’d been involved in the legislation since Congress approved the federal law. The Pocatello Republican has sponsored multiple bills regarding cryptocurrency.
“I have been at the forefront of policy around digital assets and regulations surrounding cryptocurrency and stablecoin for over six years,” he said.
Manwaring said he didn’t draft the bill to benefit any particular crypto company.
“I specifically drafted legislation that was agnostic to any particular company or stablecoin as long as it had sufficient operational scale in aggregate transaction volume,” Manwaring said. “I also added the use of public purpose stablecoin to the bill, meaning any public entity stablecoin like Wyoming’s ‘Frontier Stable Token,’ or South Dakota’s ‘Roughrider Coin,’ to allow Idaho to work with other state issued stablecoins.”
Neither of the House bills advanced. Anthon, the Senate leader, on March 23 introduced Senate Bill 1423, which was similar to the House versions. The Idaho Senate passed SB 1423 on March 27 in a 22-13 vote.
The bill never came up in the House for a hearing.
Anthon and Manwaring expressed desire to continue to work on a bill to legislative stablecoin.
“Idaho will need to continue the dialogue on the use of stablecoin for more efficient payments,” Anthon said. “Stablecoin will help to prevent delay and transaction costs. I was disappointed the legislation did not get further this year.”
Manwaring said the effort “made great progress” to educate legislators about the cryptocurrency.
“There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding stablecoin and how it is different from speculative cryptocurrency and maintains a stable value tied to the dollar and is highly efficient for payments and remittances,” Manwaring said. “Idaho taxpayers and those doing business with the state could benefit significantly in time and cost savings through the use of stablecoin for payments.”
