In brief
- Wyoming’s Frontier Stable Token debuted on seven networks, including Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche.
- The token could offer a yield in the future, while funding local education.
- It could theoretically be issued on more than 110 networks through LayerZero.
Wyoming’s stablecoin debuted across seven blockchains on Tuesday, a new milestone for the Cowboy State as it officially enters the $285 billion sector.
Issued in partnership with LayerZero, the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) will operate across Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche, along with four Ethereum scaling networks—Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base—the blockchain infrastructure provider and Wyoming Stable Token Commission said in a joint statement.
Although the stablecoin sector has been dominated for years by crypto-native firms like Tether and Circle, FRNT, previously known as the Wyoming Stable Token (WYST), represents the first state-backed token issued in the U.S. Wall Street firms, meanwhile are mulling their own offerings.
The Commission and LayerZero described FRNT as a “constitutionally-protected public asset” that’s not subject to “arbitrary usage restrictions,” unlike many alternatives.
Like most stablecoins, FRNT will be backed by cash and U.S. Treasuries—but instead of benefiting a business, interest generated by FRNT’s reserves will be diverted to Wyoming’s School Foundation Fund on a quarterly basis, serving its citizens as a public good.
Individuals tied to FRNT’s introduction told Decrypt last month that the token will be unique because it’s not regulated under the GENIUS Act. The framework for stablecoins that passed last month does not apply to FRNT because Wyoming is a sovereignty—not a business—they said.
That means FRNT could eventually share a portion of the revenue its reserves generate with holders. That feature won’t be enabled on Tuesday, as it’s still being ironed out, Wyoming Democratic State Senator Chris Rothfuss told Decrypt in July.
The initiative has caught flack from some U.S. conservatives., who have compared FRNT to a central bank digital currency, but Anthony Apollo, executive director of Wyoming’s Stable Token Commission, has pushed back against concerns over users’ financial sovereignty.
Apollo has maintained, for months, that FRNT is not a CBDC because it can’t be issued in the same way that central banks create cash. On top of that, the state may challenge requests to seize or freeze funds, if they conflict with the state’s constitutional mandates.
One example: A company issuing a stablecoin could change their policies to prohibit the purchase of firearms with their token, while Wyoming wouldn’t be able to do the same because of its obligation to uphold the Second Amendment, Apollo said.
The stablecoin’s debut came amid the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, an invite-only event at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Jackson Hole in Teton Village, where U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins is expected to speak.
FRNT was built using LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard, which also powers PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin. Tokens issued under the standard can theoretically exist on over 110 blockchains that LayerZero supports.
A constitutionally-protected asset may not mean much to someone purchasing a cup of coffee in New York, but it could matter to people overseas who face high inflation or authoritative governments, LayerZero co-founder and CEO Bryan Pellengrino told Decrypt.
Not long ago, it was unclear whether something like FRNT would even be allowed in the U.S., he said, pointing to the regulatory scrutiny that followed the $40 billion collapse of Terra’s ecosystem in 2022—marked by the meltdown of its TerraUSD (UST) algorithmic stablecoin.
“It’s a crazy bellwether for the industry that I’m not sure people fully recognize,” he said, referring to FRNT’s debut. “Just a couple of years ago, all that people were talking about is that stablecoins are going to be banned.”
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