The first US state-issued stablecoin FRNT goes live in Wyoming

Wyoming’s FRNT is a state-issued stablecoin with a defined control model

FRNT is Wyoming’s dollar-linked stablecoin effort, overseen by the Wyoming Stable Token Commission, with purchases and distribution intended to run through third parties rather than direct sales by the state.

On Jan. 7, 2026, a Wyoming statement published by Wyoming News Now said FRNT was publicly available on Kraken, with purchases on Solana and transfers to other supported chains via Stargate.

Stablecoins are crypto tokens designed to track $1 and used as trading collateral and as transfer rails between exchanges and blockchain networks.

For context on the federal stablecoin policy push that shaped issuer behavior into 2025, read The GENIUS Act and the Stablecoin Market.

The commission’s rules describe a familiar stablecoin plumbing stack for a general audience: a token is minted when an approved intermediary deposits dollars, and it is burned when that intermediary redeems, with the process gated through licensed service providers that pass onboarding checks.

The token management rules also define what the reserves can hold, limiting permitted investments to cash, US Treasury securities with maturities of 365 days or less, and US Treasury repurchase agreements with terms of 30 days or less. For a general reader, that is the state describing a short-duration reserve book aimed at meeting redemptions without reaching for long-dated risk.

In an Aug. 19, 2025 news release, the governor’s office said FRNT launched on mainnet with a statutory target of 2% overcollateralization and deployments across seven networks, while the commission’s token management rules define how the issuer can freeze or seize tokens after receiving a lawful legal directive, according to the published documents.

Overcollateralization is a buffer where reserves are intended to exceed the value of tokens in circulation, so small losses or timing mismatches do not immediately hit redemption capacity.

Wyoming’s earlier release said the commission could share smart contract addresses on Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, and Solana.

Most retail readers will not buy from the issuer. The commission’s risk disclosures say only licensed service providers with agreements and onboarding can redeem directly, so access depends on exchanges, brokers, and payment products that decide to list or support FRNT.

That control language is not a side detail. A state issuer is signaling that this is not a censorship-resistant asset in the way many crypto-native users describe bitcoin.

The token rules also define operational terms that matter in a crisis. A multi-signature wallet needs multiple keys to approve a transfer, while multi-party computation splits signing across parties so no single operator holds a full key.

If you need a quick refresher on what signing means and why private keys matter, start with How to Use Cryptographic Keys and Digital Signatures.

Bitcoin and altcoin market cap snapshot as FRNT begins trading

Pricing data showed bitcoin was up about 1.3% over the prior five days into Jan. 7, 2026, trading near $91,200 in the window around the state’s public availability announcement.

Global metrics data showed altcoin market cap was around $1.30 trillion at about 18:00 UTC on Jan. 7, with bitcoin dominance near 58.3% and total crypto market cap around $3.12 trillion.

Altcoin market cap is a shorthand for the market excluding bitcoin, and it often moves with risk appetite because it is where most higher beta tokens sit.

Wyoming’s risk disclosures warn that the market price of its stable token may still fluctuate on secondary markets, including trading above or below the dollar value it is meant to track. The document also says redemptions can be limited to certain parties and can be deferred or suspended under certain circumstances.

State stablecoins pull stablecoin risk toward law, not code, and the next catalysts are listings and disclosures

Wyoming’s move lands as US lawmakers and agencies continue to define what stablecoin issuers can do, what disclosures count as credible, and what happens when platforms list assets that do not fit the permitted lane.

The governor’s office said the state has passed more than 45 blockchain and digital asset bills since 2016.

What changes with a state issuer is the center of gravity. Instead of debating whether a private issuer will freeze a wallet under pressure, the rulebook is written into state process, with explicit references to temporary and final legal directives in the commission’s published token rules.

The token rules define “freeze” as blocking a wallet address from sending or receiving the token, and “seizure” as a permanent confiscation tied to a final directive. Put simply, the state is bringing the same levers that exist in bank rails into a token that moves on public networks.

That framing intersects directly with the broader US policy debate about who polices crypto markets. For a market structure explainer, see CLARITY Act timeline slips to 2026, and for a wider map of agencies and enforcement lanes, see US Crypto Regulation 2026.

That is the trade many readers clicked for. A state-issued stablecoin can make stablecoin distribution easier for compliance-first platforms, while narrowing space for pseudonymous use because freeze and seizure powers sit inside the design from day one.

It also sharpens the comparison with USDT and USDC. Private issuers already publish reserve attestations and operate with compliance controls, yet they also carry corporate counterparty risk, including where legal claims land in a crisis.

A state issuer shifts some of that counterparty risk into public governance and procurement choices, while making state process part of the product. For users who want a dollar token that looks and behaves like regulated money, that can be a feature, not a bug.

Key details were not immediately clear from the public documents, including how quickly FRNT supply would scale, what the initial circulating amount would be, and which venues beyond the state’s cited partners would list the token.

The next signals are measurable, not narrative: exchange listings and liquidity quality, whether the state publishes clear reserve breakdowns alongside the monthly attestations it described, and how often the commission updates the public list of supported chains and contract addresses.