• It permits the use of digital assets as a means of payment and establishes the right to store them in personal wallets.
• The bill was co-sponsored by nine Republicans, but is pending consideration in the House and committees (25% progress).

Wisconsin lawmakers have introduced a new bill that could significantly ease regulations for the crypto industry. If passed, Wisconsin residents and businesses will no longer require a money transmitter license to participate in digital asset mining, staking, and exchange.

According to the Bureau of Legislative Information, Assembly Bill 471 clarifies exemptions from the Department of Financial Institutions regulations. It will exempt crypto services from licensing if their activities involve blockchain protocols and do not involve conversion to fiat currency or bank deposits.

What the bill provides

The bill allows individuals and legal entities to:

operate nodes and connect to blockchain protocols;

participate in network operations and staking;

develop blockchain software;

transfer digital assets directly to another person through the protocol.

The bill enshrines the right to use digital assets to pay for legitimate goods and services and to store them in hardware wallets or on their own servers.

"No government agency or political subdivision may prohibit or restrict a person from accepting digital assets as payment," the bill states.

The bill has been co-sponsored by seven Republicans in the House of Representatives and two Republican senators. It is now sent to the Committee on Financial Institutions for further consideration.

According to Legiscan, the bill has a 25% chance of passing, with committee consideration and a vote in one of the chambers pending.