The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Monday that it is opening a public comment period on a proposed rule meant to clarify who needs a license to issue payment stablecoins under the GENIUS Act, the federal framework President Trump signed into law in 2025. The move is the latest step in what has become an unusually fast-moving rulemaking process, with regulators racing to finalize the law's licensing and compliance architecture well ahead of its effective date.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the request as part of that broader push, saying "President Trump and Congress delivered the GENIUS Act, establishing a landmark framework and clear rules of the road for payment stablecoins, and Treasury is moving quickly to implement that framework." He added that the department "welcomes input from stakeholders as we work to provide the regulatory certainty businesses need to innovate and grow in America."
What the GENIUS Act Requires
Under the law, banks and other qualifying entities can issue stablecoins provided they back each token with assets such as U.S. Treasuries and publish monthly reserve disclosures. The implementing framework published in the Federal Register lays out the licensing mechanics in more detail, including how issuers move through the federal approval process. Treasury's new request focuses specifically on stakeholder feedback around three questions: how key terms in the law should be defined, when a stablecoin should legally be considered "issued," and what due-diligence obligations apply to digital asset service providers that rely on a foreign issuer's compliance claims.
JUST IN:
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 17, 2026Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the "Treasury is moving quickly to implement" the GENIUS Act
"Beginning on January 18, 2027, the expected effective date of the GENIUS Act,"pic.twitter.com/VCxbnwNM5G
A Tight Timeline
The GENIUS Act is set to take effect on January 18, 2027, after which issuers generally cannot offer payment stablecoins without appropriate federal or state licensing. A second, stricter set of prohibitions on stablecoin offers and sales follows on July 18, 2028, giving both regulators and industry a multi-year runway to adjust. That compressed schedule helps explain why Treasury has moved through proposed rules at a pace unusual for federal banking regulation, one that lines up with the White House's own push to meet with crypto and prediction-market CEOs as separate market-structure legislation stalls in Congress.
For banks and stablecoin issuers watching the process, the comment period offers a last formal opportunity to shape how licensing definitions get written before they become binding. Industry groups have previously flagged ambiguity around the "issuance" question in particular, since it determines which entities in a multi-party stablecoin arrangement actually carry licensing obligations.
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