Wyoming's blockchain lawmakers, regulators and academics are gathering this week for the ninth annual Wyoming Blockchain Stampede, an event hosted by the University of Wyoming. The program opens Wednesday with welcome remarks from UW President Shane Reeves, as the Laramie Boomerang reported.

Nine years in, the gathering pulls the institutions behind Wyoming's digital-asset framework — a dedicated legislative blockchain committee, a state stable token commission, its banking regulator and a homegrown Cheyenne bank — into a single public week.

Reeves will open the program alongside Caitlin Long, the Stampede's honorary chair and the CEO and founder of Cheyenne's Custodia Bank. Tyler Lindholm, a former state legislator and state director of Americans for Prosperity, will serve as emcee.

Lawmakers Meet Ahead of the Stampede

The week begins with policy. The Wyoming Legislature's Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology will hold a public meeting Monday and Tuesday in the Wyoming Union.

Committee sessions begin at 8:30 a.m. each day in Room 212, and the agenda is posted at wyoleg.gov/Committees/2026/S19. The state-level meetings coincide with activity in Washington, where federal lawmakers are weighing bills such as those recently passed by House committees on crypto tax and a bitcoin reserve. Because the meetings are public, residents can watch the state's blockchain policy work unfold in person before the Stampede's panels open Wednesday.

State Sen. Chris Rothfuss, the committee's co-chair, is also among the scheduled speakers at the Wyoming Blockchain Stampede, as is Rylan O'Bryan, a Wyoming Business Council portfolio analyst and senior associate with the Wyoming Venture Capital Program.

Regulators on the Speaker List

The event is presented by the UW Center for Blockchain and Digital Innovation (CBDI) and features public sessions with state, national and academic experts in blockchain and innovative technologies.

Two Wyoming financial regulators are scheduled to speak: Anthony Apollo, executive director of the Wyoming Stable Token Commission, and Jeremy Bishop, the Wyoming banking commissioner. Their participation comes as other regulators act on digital assets, such as Brazil's central bank ordering a 24-hour crypto transfer delay. For attendees, the sessions offer direct access to the officials who run the state's stable token commission and its banking oversight.

Industry and Academic Voices

Other speakers include Dan Conway, chair of the US Blockchain National Body and leader of the Global Business Blockchain Council, and Ben Cook, senior assistant dean of the UW College of Business and interim director of the CBDI.

Julie Hill, dean of the UW College of Law, and Eric Alston, a UW assistant professor of law, are also scheduled to appear. Founders Tyler Gentry of NEED-AID and Dalton Gregory of Plentitude will join them, along with J. Christian Barlow and John C. Barlow of RWAP, CBDI faculty member Marc Kenton and UW professor Jacob Paul Hochard. The pairing of university legal and business scholars with startup founders gives attendees academic and entrepreneurial perspectives in the same sessions.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis are scheduled to deliver pre-recorded video remarks. The mix of banking and technology voices echoes broader efforts to bring blockchain finance to major banking conferences.

A Tribute to Steve Lupien

This year's Stampede will commemorate the late Steve Lupien, the CBDI Ada Lovelace director, who died this summer following an illness. An industry networking event and dinner honoring Lupien takes place Tuesday beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the Business Building atrium.

How to Attend

The Wyoming Blockchain Stampede is free and open to the public. Registration and event information are posted at uwyo.edu/acct-fin/cbdi/stampede. Preregistration is required for the Tuesday dinner and for a Wednesday lunch pass. The open format gives students and residents the same access to regulators, lawmakers and founders as industry insiders, at no cost.

For those attending in person, doors open at 8 a.m. Wednesday for registration check-in and a light breakfast. Welcoming activities begin at 8:45 a.m., and panel presentations start at 9 a.m.