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University of Wyoming center reports staff growth, DHS finalist project and energy token pilots
Summary
University of Wyoming Center for Blockchain and Digital Innovation told the Legislature’s select committee it has grown to 10 staff, raised roughly $1.3 million year-to-date and is a finalist for a Department of Homeland Security project while pursuing energy-related token pilots and partnerships to attract digital-asset companies to the state.
Laramie, Wyo. — The University of Wyoming’s Center for Blockchain and Digital Innovation (CBDI) told the Legislature’s Select Committee on Blockchain on Sept. 22 that the center has grown its team and fundraising while advancing projects aimed at attracting energy-intensive digital-asset businesses.
The center’s director, identified in the meeting as Director Lupien, said the CBDI now employs 10 staff and has raised about $1,300,000 in donations so far this year. “The CBDI does not accept any funding from the university. We are now completely funded, externally,” Director Lupien said.
The director told the committee the university and an affiliated entity were selected as finalists in a Department of Homeland Security competition to build a blockchain-based solution to identify foreign ownership of land around critical infrastructure; the final vendor decision was expected in the next couple of months and would move through the governor’s budget process. He also described a separate ClimateChain project that would tokenize energy credits, creating “alternative sources of revenue for energy companies” and enabling energy packages that could make power costs attractive to Bitcoin miners. Director Lupien described a test under way for an off-grid 10-megawatt installation scalable to 100 megawatts and said work with the School of Energy Resources and partners at George Washington University in St. Louis aims to package energy and credits for mining operations, including a cited net power cost example of “negative 14¢" when credits are applied.
Director Lupien pointed to recruitment and business attraction as part of the center’s goals, noting that Kraken and IOG are among major digital-asset companies domiciled or moving operations to Wyoming. He also previewed the eighth annual Blockchain Stampede events on campus — sessions for mining on Tuesday, business applications Wednesday and AI-focused events later in the week — and said the center expects industry regulators, miners and power companies to meet during the Stampede to discuss shared challenges.
The update included practical notes for attendees: campus facilities, meeting location, and the center’s claim that its endowment and fundraising will let it operate without drawing university funds for the foreseeable future.
The committee did not take formal action on the CBDI update; the presentation was delivered as part of the meeting’s general updates.
The director’s remarks and follow-up questions from committee members also touched on broader state-level regulatory work and federal legislation developments, which other witnesses and staff addressed later in the session.
