Making Montana a Home For Innovation

Making Montana a Home For Innovation

"Montana leaders have a choice to make: Either welcome crypto entrepreneurs or watch the economic activity generated by this fast-growing industry move elsewhere."

“Innovation happens when people are free to think, experiment and speculate.” – How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley

Bitcoin – up until a few years ago only a tiny portion of the population would have any idea what it was. Now cryptocurrencies and the technology driving them have exploded into an entirely new ecosystem of products, services, and ways of doing business.

One of the most exciting aspects of the crypto industry is the variety of investment and jobs it can bring. New businesses like the Missoula Valley Internet Co-op say they can use blockchain technology and “smart contracts” to build more efficient internet networks. And cryptocurrency mining operations are spurring job creation and significant investment in strengthening the power grid.

Montana leaders have a choice to make: Either welcome crypto entrepreneurs or watch the economic activity generated by this fast-growing industry move elsewhere.

Frontier President and CEO Kendall Cotton’s latest op-ed discusses the path forward for Montana:

“As other states compete to attract the growing crypto industry, Montana simply can’t afford to fall behind. Montana leaders should understand that unfriendly crypto regulations will simply mean entrepreneurs will move to states that are more welcoming. By affording this budding industry a light regulatory touch with flexibility for new ideas, Montana could become home to the next world-changing innovation.”

Click here to see the full article.

For Liberty,
Tanner Avery


The Latest

Montana has a long history of trailblazers and entrepreneurs who bucked the notion that more government is the solution to all of our problems.

In our latest Frontier History column, Lawrence Reed describes the friendship between two of the most well-known icons of the west: Charles M. Russell and Will Rogers.

Rogers’ ability to poke fun at almost anything, especially foolhardy government endeavors, is what made him a legend. He famously quipped,“The money we spend on government! And it’s not a bit better than we got for one-third the money two years ago.”

Russell, the renowned Montana painter and sculptor, truly embodied the “live and let live” spirit of the west. Rogers expressed the essence of Charlie Russell in an introduction he wrote for one of his collections: “His belief was peace and contentment, let everybody go their own way, live their own lives, so long, of course, as it didn’t trespass the rights of others.”

Both of these men are testaments to the ethos of rugged individualism that built Montana and much of the west.

Be sure to check out the entire column, and stay tuned as this series continues.

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