The State of Wyoming has made financial history with the official launch of the Wyoming Frontier Stable Token (FRNT), the first U.S. dollar-pegged, state-issued stablecoin. The token became publicly available for purchase on Wednesday, January 10, 2025, after a brief two-day delay from the originally planned January 8 launch date due to final technical integrations.
FRNT operates on the Solana blockchain, selected after a multi-chain analysis in 2024. State officials cited Solana's high throughput, low transaction costs (under $0.01), settlement in seconds, and energy-efficient proof-of-history consensus mechanism as critical factors for a public financial instrument. The integration uses a custom, third-party audited smart contract.
Unlike private stablecoins like Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, FRNT is issued under the direct mandate of the Wyoming government, governed by the Wyoming Stable Token Act passed in 2023, and supervised by the Wyoming Division of Banking. The state emphasizes that FRNT "offers public accountability, transparent oversight, and direct alignment with the rule of law."
The token is fully backed by an overcollateralized reserve held in a Wyoming-chartered trust, managed by Franklin Templeton, with Fiduciary Trust Company International acting as custodian. Reserves consist exclusively of U.S. dollars and short-duration U.S. Treasury bonds, with public audit procedures to ensure 1:1 redeemability. Interest generated from the reserves will help fund Wyoming's school program.
"Our collaboration with the State of Wyoming demonstrates what's possible when the public and private sectors work together to create a compliant, trusted framework for digital assets," said Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson.
Initially, FRNT is designed for use within Wyoming's regulatory ecosystem, including state agencies for fee payments and businesses under the state's Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) framework. The token is available for purchase through the Wyoming-domiciled cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. For broader interoperability, LayerZero provides cross-chain bridging to EVM chains including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, and Avalanche.
Financial and legal experts view FRNT as a significant test case. "This is a deliberate experiment in federalist financial technology," stated Dr. Sarah Chen, a professor of Digital Currency Law at Stanford. The launch positions Wyoming, a long-time pioneer in digital asset legislation, at the forefront of exploring a government-led stablecoin model, providing real-world data that could inform future federal stablecoin policy.
