The value of the native Sei network token SEI rose by more than 15% in the past 24 hours, following the announcement from the Wyoming Stablecoin Committee that the layer one blockchain was one of two finalists for the state’s trial program for the fiat-backed stablecoin.
This price increase raised the price of SEI to over $0.21, up from its daily low of around $0.182 earlier in the day.
The Wyoming Stablecoin Initiative (WYST), which began its testing in March 2025, has evaluated several blockchain platforms to host the planned stablecoin in the state. The criteria measured included infrastructure maturity, system operational duration, user base strength, and transaction processing rate.
On Thursday, the committee narrowed down a list of more than ten candidate blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Base, to just two: Sei and Aptos.
According to an analysis shared by a Sei follower on the social media platform X, the final evaluation benchmark used by the committee awarded Sei 30 points, outperforming Avalanche (27), Sui (26), Ethereum (26), and Base (25).
●▪︎ Trading volumes have risen following Wyoming's achievement
Following the news of the network selection, the token's price rose by over 10% throughout the day, accompanied by a 91% surge in trading volume, which reached $175 million. The market capitalization of SEI surpassed the $1 billion mark.
Chart data from CoinGecko shows a steady price increase during the early hours of yesterday, with a notable rise after 09:00 UTC as trading began on the news of Wyoming's selection. By noon, SEI's price had risen to over $0.215 before stabilizing at a slightly lower level, still significantly higher throughout the day.
The price of SEI is still well below its all-time high of $1.14 recorded in March 2024, yet the recent upward price movement indicates bullish sentiment dominating the market. The token's recovery follows months of price declines, with SEI falling to $0.17 by the end of Q1 2025.
According to a report by Bloomberg on March 26, Wyoming may launch its fiat-backed cryptocurrency as early as July. If the plan materializes, it will become the first U.S. state to issue a fully reserved stablecoin.
Governor Mark Gordon confirmed the timeline during his remarks at the Washington Blockchain Summit, stating, "I don't think there are any banks that were really excited, were they? to participate."
He recalled a conversation with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who said, "If you're going to do anything, you should do it in Wyoming, because we have a framework to do it."
The proposed Wyoming stablecoin (WYST) will be fully backed by U.S. Treasury bonds, cash, and repurchase agreements. The state law stipulates a minimum capital requirement of 102%.
●▪︎ The Sei decentralized finance (DeFi) system is witnessing a maturation phase
According to DeFiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) on the network has now surpassed $1.07 billion, with the market value of stablecoins reaching $217.58 million. The first quarter of 2025 saw a growth in total value locked (TVL) in USD by 73.7% to reach $363.1 million, while the value locked denominated in SEI surged an astonishing 299% to reach 2.11 billion SEI.
The degree of decentralized finance (DeFi) diversification, defined by the number of protocols that make up 90% of the total value locked (TVL), increased from 4 to 6 in Q1 2025, indicating a spread of capital across more applications rather than being concentrated in a few dominant platforms.
The average daily trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEX) fell by 18% quarter-over-quarter to $16.1 million, but remained steady compared to the high levels seen in late 2024. Sailor is the leading decentralized cryptocurrency exchange by volume, gaining market share from competitors such as DragonSwap, Uniswap, and Jellyverse.
