Tinian Has Passed a Bill to Launch Its Own Stablecoin, Overriding Governor's Veto

The Pacific US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands has passed a bill allowing its small constituent island of Tinian to launch a stablecoin

The small US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has passed a bill allowing its constituent island of Tinian to launch a stablecoin, overriding an earlier veto by the territory’s governor.

The 20-member Northern Mariana Islands House voted 14-2 to undo Governor Arnold Palacios’ April 11 veto of the bill, which allows the Tinian local government to issue licenses to internet casinos and includes a provision for the Tinian treasurer to issue, manage and redeem a “Tinian Stable Token.”

The territory’s nine-member Senate had revived the bill on May 9, voting 7-1 in a two-thirds majority to override the veto, which then needed a two-thirds majority in the House to pass.

Originally, a four-member Tinian delegation to the Marianas legislature had unanimously passed the bill to Governor Palacios on March 12.

It may put the Tinian government in the lead to be the first US public entity to issue a stablecoin, which it must do before July if it’s to beat the state of Wyoming government, which is aiming to issue a stablecoin by then.

Tinian has just over 2,000 residents and a largely tourism-based economy. Its local government, the Municipality of Tinian and Aguiguan, is one of four municipalities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean north of Guam.

Governor Palacios said in a letter that he vetoed the bill as it “presents several legal issues and may be unconstitutional,” would regulate an activity that could not “be clearly restricted” to Tinian and that it lacked needed enforcement measures to counter illegal gambling.

The stablecoin is called the Marianas US Dollar (MUSD) and will be backed by cash and US Treasury bills held in reserve by the Tinian Municipal Treasury, according to statements shared with Cointelegraph in March.

The Tinian government chose local tech services firm Marianas Rai Corporation as the exclusive infrastructure provider for MUSD, which will be launched on the eCash blockchain, a network that rebranded from Bitcoin Cash ABC in 2021 and is a fork of Bitcoin Cash, a blockchain forked from Bitcoin.

A Marianas Rai Corp. spokesperson did not comment beyond telling Cointelegraph the company would announce more on MUS