Wyoming Enacts Law to Establish Strategic Gold Reserve

(Jp Cortez, Money Metals News Service) A groundbreaking bill to establish a strategic gold reserve has just become law in Wyoming.

Senate File 96 – also known as the Wyoming Gold Act – requires the Wyoming Treasurer to diversify the state’s holdings by acquiring no less than $10 million in “specie and specie legal tender” as part of the state’s Permanent Mineral Trust Fund.

After the bill passed overwhelmingly through both chambers, Governor Mark Gordon – who once held a position at the anti-gold Federal Reserve and previously served as state treasurer – today begrudgingly allowed SF 96 to become law without his signature and wrote a letter expressing his personal skepticism about protecting taxpayer funds with a gold allocation.

Lead sponsor Sen. Bob Ide said, “At present, Wyoming sadly doesn’t own a single ounce of gold, placing our state’s finances and citizens at substantial risk. This new law forces the Wyoming Treasurer’s office to get off the dime and get itself educated on how to use physical gold to protect the state.”

Wyoming’s Permanent Mineral Trust Fund has been invested in conventional investments but has remarkably never included any physical gold, even as gold has more than doubled in its dollar price during the five years since similar proposals had been floated in the Wyoming legislature – with gold bullion vastly outperforming the state’s existing investments over many years.

Many of Wyoming’s investment holdings, especially its allocation to Third World debt, are exposed to counterparty risks. And several asset classes have seen their value decline in real terms when adjusting for inflation.

SF 96 would integrate gold and silver into the state’s finances and provide a hedge against dollar devaluation, debt default, market drawdowns, and other risks.

A 2018 law defines “specie legal tender” as coin having gold or silver content and defines “specie” as refined gold or silver bullion which is coined, stamped, or imprinted with its weight and purity valued primarily on its metal content and not its form.

“States all over the country are considering and establishing gold reserves. Wyoming will finally now begin to establish a gold reserve and better protect itself against financial turmoil and the corrosive effects of the Federal Reserve’s overt policy of currency debasement,” said Jp Cortez, executive director of the Sound Money Defense League.

The required $10 million investment in specie is merely a floor. Given the size of Wyoming’s investment portfolio, experts such as Money Metals Exchange CEO Stefan Gleason and Joe Cavatoni of the World Gold Council (who both testified in favor of SF 96) advise that a much larger allocation to physical precious metals would likely be appropriate.

Senate File 96 also directs Wyoming’s Department of Revenue to conduct a study exploring how the state can better integrate gold and silver into the state’s finances, including potentially accepting the monetary metals as payment for taxes and fees. This study’s findings are to be reported to the legislature no later than October 1, 2025.

Wyoming joins many other states in embracing sound money policy through tax exemptions, establishment of gold reserves, and more.

The State of Utah recently acquired $50 million in physical gold currently, and Texas and Ohio have invested in gold as well. Similar legislation is under consideration in several other states this legislative session.

Central banks around the world have been stockpiling gold at record rates over the past several years, an indication of high global tensions and concerns about devaluation of the unbacked Federal Reserve Note “dollar” as well as its weaponization.

Wyoming currently ranks first on the 2025 Sound Money Index with a score of 56%. Enactment of SF 96 will help solidify the Cowboy State’s standing as the best sound money state in the country.

Jp Cortez is the Executive Director of the Sound Money Defense League, an organization working to remonetize gold and silver through nationwide legislative efforts. He is a graduate of Auburn University and a resident of Charlotte, North Carolina. Jp is the lead author of the Sound Money Index. Follow him on X (Twitter) @JpCortez27.