In the US, public-private state associations form networks of support for crypto

When you think of a crypto-friendly U.S. state, Washington is hardly the first to come to mind. Yet, a lot has been happening on the ground in the Pacific Northwest lately. Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill, SB5544, into law on March 30. The new legislation creates a working group of seven state officials and eight trade association leaders to examine “various potential applications of and policies for blockchain technology” and report to the governor in December 2023. 

Republican state Senator Sharon Brown, one of the sponsors of the legislation, said, “By creating the Washington Blockchain Work Group, we are sending a clear message that Washington is ready to start working with the private sector to advance this technology for the benefit of all Washington residents, employers and workers.”

Washington Technology Industry Association, or WTIA, vice president of public policy Molly Jones described the law as an “important and foundational step to growing Washington’s blockchain sector.” The WTIA was a vocal supporter of the legislation.

So far, Washington has only rarely appeared on the many lists compiled over the years to rank U.S. states by their affiliation with the cryptocurrency industry and blockchain technology. This is despite the considerable efforts of the WTIA, which focuses on blockchain and quantum computing. The WTIA has been active since the 1980s and received a $550,000 state grant to develop innovations in blockchain and quantum computing in the state earlier this year.

Growing the blockchain sector

The WTIA’s menu of programs includes a nationally active apprenticeship program and a chief information security officers’ peer group. Its accelerator, the Founder Cohort, is in its seventh round. It accepts 20–25 companies at a time into a six-month program.

Whygrene, an energy trading platform and distributed energy management system, is part of that seventh cohort. Whygrene’s hybrid cloud and blockchain software uses the Cryptojoule token to track and trade energy. Founder and CEO Patrick Phelps is quick to point out that the token could be developed into a cryptocurrency in the future.

The WTIA 7th Founder Cohort was the fourth accelerator for which Whygrene was selected. “It really helps,” Phelps told Cointelegraph. There have been webinars on structuring a pitch, talking to investors and similar topics, but it is the “warm introductions” and networking events that Phelps enthused over.

“The WTIA says, ‘talk to this company,’” Phelps said. “It counts for a lot in the investors’ eyes.” Phelps had four meetings in his first week in the cohort and has made connections with companies from earlier cohorts. Since joining the 7th Cohort, Whygrene has been admitted to the Plug and Play Startup Accelerator as well. Phelps explained that “Smaller accelerators help you get into bigger ones.”

Another WTIA program, the Cascadia Blockchain Council, was the brainchild of board member Arry Yu. The council, established in 2018, is a collaboration of companies, universities and government agencies that seeks “to make the region a global hub for blockchain development.” The council has close to 200 participants nationwide and helps companies in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada, in addition to those in Washington state.

Portland has seen particular success recently. According to a Bloomberg study based on data from LinkedIn, Portland ranked among the top ten cities adding crypto jobs in 2021. “We made specific moves in 2017 and 2018 to create a center of excellence through the Oregon Enterprise Blockchain Venture Studio,” Jeff Gaus, creator of the Oregon Enterprise Blockchain Venture Studio, told Cointelegraph by email. “Collectively, we recruited Coinbase to open operations here; Portland State University created the first-ever degrees (undergraduate and graduate) in Blockchain […] and the Technology Association of Oregon earmarked this…