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<p>We don&#x2019;t have to put up with crap like this…</p>

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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Another Reason To Be Grateful To Live In Wyoming: Reason #3 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

We don't have to put up with crap like this...

Another Reason To Be Grateful To Live In Wyoming: Reason #3

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

Seven months after allegedly kidnapping her 11-month-old son, fleeing the state, then 

 during a brief standoff with law enforcement, a trial has been set for Madeline Daly.

It will be another six months before a Grant County, New Mexico, jury trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 11, 2027, which was set during a July 21 pretrial hearing.

While the wheels of justice take time, there’s no amount of time that can make Jake Stoner feel much better since the death of his son, reportedly at the hands of his mother.

“There’s a special kind of evil at work here,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday as Daly, 35, sits in a southwest New Mexico jail cell facing charges of 

 and intentional abuse of a child resulting in death.

[{"type":"text","text":"Stoner said he’s still “pretty much” shellshocked."}]

He declined to discuss the legal and court process much ahead of the trial, but Stoner did say he would have preferred if she were facing a federal prosecution instead of state.

With a federal court, “she would face the death penalty,” Stoner said.

In New Mexico, there is no death penalty and life in prison also can mean a convicted felon could be up for parole after 30 years.

If convicted, Daly could face 30 years to life for first-degree murder and life for intentional abuse, according to New Mexico statutes.

“This is the most God-awful thing I’ve ever experienced,” Stoner said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘She Would Do It Again’"}]

Already wanted on a Wyoming warrant for kidnapping her infant son Basil, Daly was located near Silver City, New Mexico, just before Christmas last year.

As Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputies moved in around an RV she was staying at, Daly, who lived at an RV park in Ten Sleep before leaving the state, realized they were closing in on her, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in her case.

She allegedly shot her son, then tried to turn the gun on herself, but by then officers were able to subdue her, according to the affidavit written by Detective Lt. Jason Jordan.

She also reportedly told investigators afterward that she didn’t know why she shot and killed the boy, but that in her mind, she couldn’t let Stoner or his family have him.

“Even if the rest of life is worthless, she would do it again just so to make sure that the (family) didn’t touch him,” the affidavit says.

Daly told investigators that after officers stormed into the RV when she shot the boy, she “wasn’t fast enough killing herself after is all she can say about that,” the affidavit says.

Daly was wanted on a warrant out of Washakie County, Wyoming, after the boy’s father reported the infant missing Nov. 19.

Stoner, from Kilgore, Nebraska, shared custody of the boy with Daly and said she resisted him visiting their son. He last saw Basil on Sept. 28.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lands In New Mexico"}]

Daly had disappeared until she applied for a job near Silver City, New Mexico, the affidavit says.

The Wyoming warrant for her arrest popped up during a background check, the affidavit says.

For her part, Daly told agents after her arrest that she was keeping Basil “safe,” and that she knew she was breaking the law, but felt it was worth it for the sake of her child.

She said that’s why she ran into a nearby RV with Basil when she realized the law was closing in on her, the affidavit says.

She also made unsubstantiated claims that Basil “would have been in danger and molested if she would have stepped out of that trailer” and that his father “never wanted anything to do with Basil, financially, physically, emotionally ever.”

When questioned about why she kidnapped her own son, Daly replied that “she was not going to allow her (then) 8-month-old baby go back and forth from Nebraska to Wyoming twice a month,” the affidavit says.

Daly said she wound up in New Mexico because she had worked in that area 10 years ago. She began working for some people there who “ended up ratting her out because they knew she was running from something,” Jordan wrote.

Daly apparently had been trying to blend into an unincorporated area near Silver City, Jordan writes in his affidavit.

She was living in a rented bunkhouse, and an officer who had a contact living near the bunkhouse was alerted and began “keeping an eye out for her return home,” Jordan wrote.

Coincidentally, another deputy saw Daly and her son earlier that day at a local restaurant, but at the time didn’t know she was wanted by the law.

“Madeline was last seen this morning by Cpl. Deputy (William) Mize at the Three Questions Café in Mimbres, but he was not aware of the kidnapping at the time,” the affidavit says.

The document goes on to recount that the deputy observed that “she was a bit evasive as she sat down with her son to have breakfast this morning.”

After getting the call from Washakie County, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office developed a plan to retrieve Basil, the affidavit says.

That included sending out five deputies to the bunkhouse. They had been tipped off that Daly had returned there.

“On arrival, Cpl. Deputy Mize saw a female subject running with a small child towards a motorized RV,” the affidavit says. “When deputies arrive to the motorized RV, they were confronted by a female subject later identified as (the owner of the RV).”

Daly later told investigators why she ran with Basil into the RV.

“I saw the sheriffs and I knew my time was up,” she said, according to the affidavit.

“When asked what went through her mind when she saw law enforcement walking up, she replied, ‘Jake can’t get Basil,’” the affidavit said.

Daly reportedly told investigators she assumed they had a felony warrant for kidnapping because she didn’t follow a judge’s custody order.

“So she said, ‘F*** it, it’s worth a shot,’” the affidavit says, adding that she considered her actions “worth it” if it meant keeping Basil away from his father and his family.

Deputies wanted to go into the RV and get the boy, but the owner “would not give deputies permission to enter her residence without a search warrant,” the affidavit says.

While authorities were telling Daly that she was surrounded and calling her out of the house, other agents were preparing to get a search warrant “just in case Madeline did not comply and come outside,” the affidavit says.

It was then at least one gunshot was heard from inside the RV.

One deputy then reported that the 11-month-old had been “shot in the chest by his mother, Madeline Daly,” the affidavit says, adding that she was in custody.

It’s not clear from the affidavit how many times the infant was shot.

The document references a gunshot to the chest, but then also reports that “medical staff worked on the child, but they were unable to save his life due to the gunshot wound to the face.”

It’s not clear from Daly’s public-facing court file if a mental evaluation has been asked for or ordered leading up to the trail. There are four documents that have been sealed from public view.

She remains in the Grant County Detention Center without bond.

In the meantime, she also faces a potential felony charge in Wyoming of interference with custody, which could get her up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

Madeline Daly and Basil 12 26 25

<title>Trial Set For Wyoming Woman Accused Of Kidnapping, Killing Infant During Standoff | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Seven months after allegedly kidnapping her 11-month-old son, fleeing the state, then killing the infant during a standoff with law enforcement, a trial has been set for Madeline Daly. “There’s a special kind of evil at work here,” said the baby’s father.

Trial Set For Wyoming Woman Accused Of Kidnapping, Killing Infant During Standoff

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

What a 27-year-old Laramie man intended as a frustrated Facebook rant ended with a criminal conviction, five days in jail, the loss of his apartment and job, and three years of supervised probation.

Dawson Cooley was sentenced Tuesday in Albany County Circuit Court after pleading guilty last week to a reduced misdemeanor charge of sending a death threat electronically.

 in May directed at Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, including one that stated, "I might assassinate you."

As part of a plea agreement accepted by the court, Cooley received a suspended 365-day jail sentence and was placed on three years of supervised probation. The court also granted him a deferred sentence on a second charge.

The misdemeanor conviction carries a maximum penalty of up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Albany County Prosecuting Attorney Joel Defebaugh and defense attorney Travis Shurtliff jointly recommended the plea agreement.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Looking Back"}]

Speaking with Cowboy State Daily after his sentencing, Cooley said he regrets the Facebook posts and wishes he had handled his frustrations differently.

"It all started with a media request functionality website that was broken," Cooley said. "I kind of got upset about that and expressed myself in a pretty ignorant way."

Cooley said he believes portions of the post were taken out of context and that he had been criticizing Gordon before writing the threatening language.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"If I could go back and not do that, I would for sure,\" he said."}]

He also said he posted an apology the following morning after realizing how his words could be interpreted.

At the time, Cooley said he believed the post fell under free speech protections because "the whole thing in context ... painted a different picture."  

Cooley said he has been pursuing independent journalism and was attempting to gather information through public records requests when he wrote the Facebook posts.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Heavy Consequences"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Cooley said the criminal case altered nearly every part of his life."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He spent five days in jail before posting a $20,000 cash bond in May."}]

While released pending trial, he said bond conditions prohibiting internet access left him unable to search for housing or jobs, complete online college coursework or even make routine purchases electronically.

"I lost my apartment, my job, like the new radio position, and potentially my prospects to go to college," Cooley said.

[{"type":"text","text":"He described the restrictions as \"pretty horrible.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I had to withdraw from that stuff,\" he said of his college classes."}]

Looking ahead, Cooley said he plans to continue pursuing independent journalism while developing software he hopes will help people conduct legal and public records research more efficiently.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mental Health"}]

One of the primary conditions of Cooley's probation requires him to participate in mental health treatment and counseling.

Defebaugh told Cowboy State Daily that the probation terms are "for the most part routine," but place "an emphasis on Mr. Cooley's mental health treatment and counseling."

[{"type":"text","text":"Cooley said he does not object to that requirement."}]

"Everyone's got problems, and I'm no different," he said. "I was actually, before this all happened, looking at getting treatment."

Looking back, he said he wishes he had addressed his frustrations differently.

"I could have done things in a much more mentally healthy way instead of just a rant," Cooley said. "I could have put together a concise article about all my grievances."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'If I Could Go Back ...' "}]

Cooley said he believes aspiring independent journalists should have the same ability to seek government information as members of the traditional news media and that frustrations over public records requests fueled the Facebook posts.

Among the posts investigators cited in the criminal affidavit was one stating, "Gov. Gordy, if I have to talk to you with a gun in your office, so be it." 

Court records show Gordon's legal counsel informed the court that the governor was not seeking restitution and did not wish to provide a victim impact statement.

Cowboy State Daily also requested comment from the governor's office. Communications Director Amy Edmonds declined.

Cooley said he recognizes the seriousness of what happened and hopes to move forward.

"I think that I'm lucky to not be getting jail time for this," he said. "If I could go back and ... not do that, I would for sure."

Laramie assassin 8 4 26

<title>Laramie Man Pleads Guilty, Regrets Threat To ‘Assassinate’ Governor In Online Rant | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Laramie man who pleaded guilty Tuesday for saying he might assassinate Gov. Mark Gordon says his Facebook rant has cost him his apartment, job and college future. Today, Dawson Cooley says, "If I could go back and not do that, I would for sure."

Laramie Man Pleads Guilty, Regrets Threat To ‘Assassinate’ Governor In Online Rant

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Scott Artis was trying to get some good photographs of lightning when he inadvertently caught the strike that started the Kohns Fire in Campbell County on July 27.

Artis was in his home near Rozet when he noticed the dark storm clouds overhead. He decided to share the storm with his father.

“My parents live out of state, and my dad's a real big fan of lightning and thunderstorms,” Artis told Cowboy State Daily. “It's so easy to capture lightning out here, so this storm rolled in, and I thought I’d get a quick video and give him a glimpse of Wyoming life.”

Artis picked a direction and started filming. The storm didn’t disappoint, sending a particularly large lightning bolt straight to the ground.

A few minutes later, he noticed a red glow in the spot where lightning had struck.

“All of a sudden, the fire started roaring,” he said. “My wife grabbed the phone, made sure we had good cell service, and called 911 to report that there was a fire.”

It turned out they did the Campbell County Fire Department a favor. They had been responding to other wildfires in the area, but weren’t aware of what became the Kohns Fire until Artis called it in.

[{"type":"text","text":"“This one wasn’t on their radar at that point,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Good Vantage"}]

The Campbell County Fire Department quickly responded to the Kohns Fire, which burned around 2,700 acres before full containment.

The thunderstorm that moved across Campbell County on July 27 sparked multiple fires in the area. The first flames spread quickly due to strong winds and dry vegetation.

Scott and his wife live on top of a hill near Rozet, an unincorporated town. It gives them an excellent vantage point to see the surrounding landscape.

“You can really appreciate the beauty of these thunderstorms, but also the inherent danger,” he said. “We have a good 360-degree view from our house, so we could see if there was any smoke and help some ranchers and people with houses and prairies from going up in smoke.”

Artis wants to be the best neighbor he can to his fellow Wyoming ranchers. That’s one of the reasons he moved to Wyoming in the first place.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Quite A Career"}]

Artis, who moved to Wyoming from California's Bay Area, is a former molecular biologist who’s had “an interesting career path.” That would be putting it modestly.

“I worked to develop cures and processes to battle HIV and other diseases,” he said. “I created tools for cancer research, and some of the clients of our biotech products include NASA and the International Space Station.”

NASA worked with Artis to test tissue samples of living astronauts to see if and how prolonged time in the International Space Station altered their bodies. Such insights are critical to the agency’s goals of long-term experiments leading to the Moon and Mars.

Nevertheless, Artis and his wife had a 10-year plan to “get out and live that rural life.” Their dream was always to find a small property where they could get away from it all, but it came sooner than they anticipated.

“We woke up one day, and we said, ‘Why are we waiting 10 years?’ We're going to be older, things could potentially be more difficult, or we may never do it. Life changes, so we decided to go for it.”

Artis started looking for the perfect spot. He found it on a ranch near Rozet, so the couple “left everything we had known behind and went to the prairie of Wyoming.”

They've been there for just over a year, and say they are loving every minute of it.

“We got sheep, chickens, and property,” he said. “We see deer and antelope every day. There’s great people and great community. This is true America. It doesn't get any better than this.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Enlightening Experience"}]

Witnessing the lightning strike that started the Kohns Fire was another insightful experience for Artis. It reminded him why he was eager to pick up and move to the country.

“I've been into conservation, wildlife conservation, and environmental work for a while,” he said. “I did all this work to help preserve populations and these incredible resources for fishermen, hunters, and recreational opportunities, but I was doing it from inside an office building.”

After relocating to Wyoming, Artis said he feels that he gets to “see the fruits of those labors” every day. It makes him even more determined to preserve the natural landscape however he can.

“I'm still in the wildlife, non-profit world, and I'm in the process of now looking for a new position that kind of fits my remote lifestyle,” he said. “I spent a lot of time indoors protecting the stuff that was outdoors, without seeing or enjoying it. Now, I'm living in it and able to do that every day.”

Lightning fire 8 4 26

<title>Campbell County Newcomer Gets Video of Lightning That Started 2,700-Acre Fire | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Scott Artis was just trying to get a video of a thunderstorm for his dad when he captured the lightning strike that started the Kohns Fire in Campbell County on July 27. “All of a sudden, the fire started roaring,” said Artis, whose wife called 911.

Campbell County Newcomer Gets Video of Lightning That Started 2,700-Acre Fire

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Business & Tourism

Jackson Hole isn’t the first place most people think of for a wrestling match, but that’s what is about to quietly unfold in Teton County over the next few weeks. 

Two events, one week apart, will place opposing visions of money within the same valley.

While the two opponents won't share the same stage, they will feature opposing visions of money within the same valley. And each will host different sets of financial titans — neither of which are likely to pull any punches.

First up is the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Aug. 17-20, an invitation-only, three-day gathering in Teton Village that will draw 500 billionaire founders, institutional investors and top-tier policymakers for what amounts to a digital-asset Davos. 

The guest list includes top-level regulators such asSEC Chair Paul Atkins and billionaire CEOs such as Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Galaxy’s Mike Novogratz and BitGo’s Mike Belshe. Venture capital titans such as Morgan Stanley head of Emerging Markets Amy Oldenburg, Nasdaq senior executive Kevin Kennedy, and Skybridge Capital Managing Partner Anthony Scaramucci are also attending.

Then, seven days later, after the crypto and fintech crowd clears out, a considerably smaller group of 120 traditional gatekeepers of legacy finance will arrive at Jackson Lake Lodge for the Federal Reserve’s annual economic retreat — led by new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh. 

His banner for the equally closed-door event Aug. 27-29, is “Financial Innovation: Implications for Payments and Policy.”

If all this sounds like it’s just coincidence, it’s one that mirrors events of the past 17 years, ever since Satoshi Nakamoto published his Bitcoin white paper amid the 2008 global financial crisis — just two weeks after the government announced a $2 trillion bailout for banks deemed “too big to fail.”

The argument between the two camps boils down to one core question: Who will control the future of money, and what shape should that future take? 

As crypto advocates see it, government should not be trusted with this power. Exhibit A in their book is the continual printing of money, devaluing everyone’s savings. Computer code can be programmed to limit the money supply automatically, without fear or favor.

The Federal Reserve, on the other hand, is angling for more central control. They believe a group of human experts should control the money supply, to print or restrict money in ways that steer the economy, prevent crashes and manage inflation. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Wyoming’s Digital Asset Bet"}]

Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, one of the architects of Wyoming’s digital asset framework, is among those in the Cowboy State watching all of this unfold. 

“It’s an interesting little battle,” he said. “Those traditional financial institutions obviously want to win and want to be in control of financial systems, regardless of the financial system type. So it’s going to be a continued battle.”

Rothfuss hopes that despite the federal battles Wyoming has had to fight for its regulatory framework, that some of the financial institutions are finally coming around.

“I’m hopeful that the hard work we’ve invested in will pay off,” he said. “I think we are still better positioned than any of the alternative solutions — really any of the federal solutions, when it gets right down to it. Because the federal regulatory structure is very subject to political will and the politics of Washington, D.C.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Keeping More Wyoming Youth?"}]

Former state legislator and Crook County rancher Tyler Lindholm also helped pioneer the state’s digital asset laws. He sees the digital asset sector as a chance at economic diversification that might help retain more of the state's youth.

“The reality is not everybody wants to grow up to be a cowboy or a coal miner,” Lindholm said. "So, what are we going to do to provide that opportunity for those homegrown Wyoming kids who do want to chase self-actualization and become their best selves and work in the trade they want to work in? Wyoming needs to find a way. We have to find a way to be attractive to different types of industries, because if we keep going down the path we’re going down, Wyoming is going to continue to just look like a retirement state.”

Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, has also been active in digital asset legislation. He is optimistic about the future — and proud of how Wyoming has handled the digital asset space.

“We didn’t have to give any special tax breaks or handouts to these industries to make them think Wyoming is attractive,” he said. “All we had to do was lean into our strengths, which was recognizing the rights of the people, that coming in the form of recognizing property rights in the digital age. We were the first state to go forward and do that, and because we were the first ones to create that legal clarity, so many entities are coming into the state of Wyoming now.”

Some of those entities are already stepping up to give back, Singh added. 

“The largest single entity in Wyoming is Kraken, and they are the ones who have pledged to fund the Trump accounts for our next generation,” he said. “That’s creating a whole other opportunity for the next generation of kids who are going to be here, and they did that voluntarily.”

Others in the space are less optimistic, pointing to the “leap-frogging” the Fed’s delay has made possible by banks in financial centers like New York..

“As a result of that, the big financial institutions have stayed mostly in New York,” Custodia Bank’s Caitlin Long told Cowboy State Daily. “Because the powers that be were able to block Wyoming as an upstart … So Kraken is the only big company that has not just registered in Wyoming, but has relocated to Wyoming and has jobs on the ground.

”It’s not going to be what we had at one time hoped it would be. And there’s one simple reason for that. It’s the Federal Reserve.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"An Annual Wyoming Fixture"}]

The fact that a digital asset conference with so much global heft is happening in Jackson Hole is not an accident, even if its timing with the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium might be coincidental. 

Wyoming has spent the better part of a decade quietly rewriting its laws to court this kind of moment.

Starting in 2018, lawmakers passed a series of first-in-the-nation statutes to define digital assets clearly and to recognize them as a form of personal property. That legal clarity came with special charters for things like digital asset “SPDI” or speedy banks, to securely hold digital assets and cash them out, and DUNAs, which allow Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) to enter into contracts, hold assets, hire contributors and pay taxes. 

The latter Wyoming model has since been copied by other states such as Alabama and West Virginia. 

SPDIs, however, were choked out at the federal level by regulators — despite lawmakers engaging in at least 100 meetings with the Kansas City Federal Reserve to hammer out a SPDI law that would be pleasing to the Fed.

The state has also backed its own government-issued stable token, the Frontier token, pitched as a way to modernize public finance, while helping the state bolster its education system and its property tax base. 

The strategy, Rothfuss and other lawmakers have said, was taking a page from another lightly populated state's playbook. Decades ago, South Dakota successfully diversified its economy by embracing a nascent credit card industry, collaring several companies that still have significant operations there today, among them Citibank and Wells Fargo. 

That’s had mixed success, with the Biden Administration’s Federal Reserve blocking Wyoming’s SPDI banks, but Rothfuss does see notable successes, like Kraken’s decision to plant not only its incorporation papers but its headquarters in Wyoming. 

Founded in 2011, the cryptocurrency exchange and fintech platform serves more than 15 million users in 190 countries, facilitating billions in trading volume and posting $2.2 billion in annual revenue.

It’s No. 3 on the inaugural Fortune Crypto 100 list, tracking the most influential infrastructure builders in the digital asset world. 

“A big part of the reason we have SALT is Kraken and their recognition of (Wyoming’s) framework,” Rothfuss said. “And then we have other entities coming to Wyoming, utilizing our DUNA Act and utilizing other resources like the speedy that we have. We’re trying to get traction with our Frontier Stable tokens, so I think we’ve got all the right tools in place.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"In Global Company"}]

That backstory explains how and why the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, whose sister SALT Conference is held in places like Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, New York, and London, has kept the Cowboy State on its short list for three years running. 

“Wyoming, in particular, has shown leadership within that (digital) asset class,” SALT CEO John Darise told Cowboy State Daily. “So this event is built around being an annual fixture in Wyoming.”

It does bring a large economic impact to Teton County and by extension Wyoming. 

Darise will secure as large a hotel room block as possible in Teton Village, which essentially means the Four Seasons Teton Mountain Lodge, Faraway Jackson, Gravity House, and Hotel Terra.

“All told, the event is meant to be a 500-person event and is supposed to be somewhat exclusive in nature — by application or invitation only,” he said.

SALT will spend thousands on catering for those 500 out-of-state guests as well as different types of events meant to be a crash course in the Wyoming experience.

“Each year we’ve done a reception at Snake River Ranch at the gray Barn facility in Teton Village,” Darise said. “We’re doing a big reception at the Mangy Moose in Teton Village this yea, and, then, for the third straight year, we’re doing a concert at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in downtown Jackson.” 

The event has sometimes been closed to media, but not this year.

“In year one, we did take more of a Chatham House rule approach,” Darise said. “But we’ve decided that we want to open it up. There’s nothing that’s going on that we don’t want to share with the world. So we’ve opened it up to media in subsequent years.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Wyoming Positioned Well"}]

Darise is a believer that Wyoming stands to gain, long-term, from the digital asset industry, which he sees as a natural when dovetailing with Artificial Intelligence.

“Wyoming’s leadership in sort of financial innovation is going to dovetail into its leadership in energy and AI leadership,” he said. “Wyoming is a very resource-rich state, a lot of which is untapped. Energy, if it’s consumed closer to where it’s produced, is much more efficient.”

Historically, Wyoming has exported 12 to 15 times the amount of energy it uses, according to various media estimates. 

“I know data center is a dirty word,” Darise said. “But if you can have data centers built in a place like Wyoming …” it flips the script on both jobs and tax revenues.

“They are positive for the locations in which they operate,” he said. “They are job creators, as long as they’re not putting an onerous strain on an energy grid or a water source or poisoning a water source. And I think as these data centers go on, they will get better at making sure those two things aren’t the case. Then it’s up to local and state leaders to make sure the data centers are built in the right place and operate the right way.”

The vision of Wyoming ripping a page from South Dakota’s playbook is “absolutely” possible, Darise added.

In the span of a week, Teton County will host a 500-person, invite-only, digital-asset “Davos.” That will be followed by the Federal Reserve’s elite annual retreat. Each event is another round in a high-stakes wrestling match over the future of money.

Another Reason To Be Grateful To Live In Wyoming: Reason #3

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