Genius | Crypto

A public comment letter argues that regulated stablecoin issuers need clearer compliance standards to avoid sanctions risks tied to secondary-market activity. Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto bank and stablecoin infrastructure provider, has submitted a public comment letter supporting the US Treasury Department’s proposed Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and sanctions framework for the GENIUS Act, arguing that the rules largely strike the right balance between compliance and innovation. In a letter published Wednesday, Anchorage said the proposed framework appropriately places AML obligations on regulated stablecoin issuers while urging Treasury to clarify secondary-market sanctions liability, enterprise-wide AML programs and correspondent account requirements. Specifically, Anchorage argued that issuers should not face strict liability for failing to independently identify sanctioned users who transact on secondary markets through their smart contracts. Read more

The Hyperliquid Policy Center and Paradigm say the Treasury’s money-laundering rules for the GENIUS Act are too onerous for stablecoin issuers. The lobbying arm of crypto futures exchange Hyperliquid and venture capital firm Paradigm has urged the US Treasury to revise a proposed anti-money laundering and sanctions rule for stablecoin issuers. The Hyperliquid Policy Center and Paradigm said in a letter on Tuesday that some secondary market obligations should be clarified or narrowed “to avoid unintended consequences for permissionless blockchain infrastructure and the DeFi ecosystem.” The pair said they endorse the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) approach of putting compliance obligations on the “primary market,” such as issuers who have customer information, and taking a “limited approach” to the secondary market, where issuers only see wallets and transactions. Read more

In this week's Crypto Long & Short, Ravi Tanuku on why the GENIUS Act didn't just regulate stablecoins, it repriced Bitcoin's monetary premium. Then, Jesper Johansen on why looped ETH staking no longer needs a lending market.

The proposed rule would direct payment stablecoin issuers to establish AML/CFT and sanctions compliance programs, and be able to “block, freeze, and reject” certain transactions. Payment stablecoin issuers in the United States will be required to implement a regime targeting illicit finance under the proposed framework for the GENIUS Act. In a Wednesday notice, the US Treasury Department said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had issued a joint proposed rule to implement provisions of the GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025.  The proposal would direct payment stablecoin issuers to establish and maintain an anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) program, maintain a sanctions compliance program, and have the ability to “block, freeze and reject” certain stablecoin transactions. Issuers would be treated as financial institutions for purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Read more

FDIC’s proposed rules providing insurance for corporate deposits of stablecoin issuers will not extend to the stablecoin holders, as it would conflict with the GENIUS Act’s text, the FDIC said. The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has proposed new rules to regulate FDIC-supervised stablecoin issuers in accordance with the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which was signed into law nine months ago. In a statement on Tuesday, the FDIC said its board of directors voted to issue a proposal that would set reserve, redemption, capital, risk management and custody standards for stablecoin issuers and insured depository institutions under its supervision. The FDIC insures deposits at more than 4,000 financial institutions and supervises over 2,700 banks and savings associations to maintain stability in the US financial system. Read more

Treasury's first proposed GENIUS rule landed on April 1 as a notice of proposed rulemaking. The text inside it builds the operational architecture for US stablecoin governance, addressing which institutions may issue payment stablecoins, under what conditions, and at what scale before federal oversight becomes mandatory. Why this matters: This shifts stablecoins from a fragmented […] The post US Treasury’s first GENIUS rule now redraws who controls stablecoins at scale appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A proposed plan by the agency would ban “pass-through insurance“ for stablecoins by third parties in addition to the FDIC not insuring deposits under the law. Travis Hill, chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), confirmed that, in his opinion, a law passed in July would not give the agency the authority to guarantee stablecoin deposits.  In remarks prepared for the American Bankers Association (ABA) Washington Summit on Wednesday, Hill said that under rules for the stablecoin payments bill, the GENIUS Act, the FDIC would not allow the government to guarantee deposits once the law was fully implemented. Similarly, stablecoin issuers would be prohibited from representing that the digital assets were FDIC insured, and a proposed plan would stop “pass-through insurance” by third parties. “If a payment stablecoin arrangement qualified for pass-through insurance, this would mean that if a bank holding the issuer’s reserves in a deposit account failed, the FDIC would insure the deposit account ...

The American Bankers Association pressed the OCC to delay new national trust bank charters for crypto and stablecoin firms until the GENIUS Act framework is fully in place. The American Bankers Association (ABA) is urging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to slow its approval of national trust bank charters for crypto and stablecoin firms until the regulatory landscape under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act is clearer.  In a Wednesday comment letter on the OCC’s national bank chartering notice of proposed rulemaking, the trade group warned that recent and future applicants engaged in stablecoin and digital asset activities face still‑unsettled oversight from multiple federal and state regulators.  The ABA said that the OCC should not advance applications where an institution’s full regulatory obligations, including under forthcoming GENIUS Act rulemakings, are not yet fully defined. Read more

Five New York officials reportedly said Tether and Circle had been incentivized to not work with law enforcement, allowing them to profit off crimes involving stablecoins. Several New York district attorneys have reportedly warned about the US federal stablecoin law, the GENIUS Act, claiming it fails to adequately address fraud. According to a Monday CNN report, New York Attorney General Letitia James and four district attorneys signed onto a letter saying that the GENIUS Act will “provide legal cover” for stablecoin issuers to potentially participate in fraud. The letter reportedly pointed a finger at issuers Tether and Circle, claiming that the companies have profited off crimes in stablecoin markets, specifically accusing Tether of only freezing some suspicious transactions in USDt (USDT). Read more

Banks argue that stablecoin rewards offered through exchanges exploit a GENIUS Act loophole, blurring the line between payment tokens and savings accounts. The GENIUS Act was designed to keep stablecoins as payment tools rather than savings products. As a result, it bans issuers from paying interest or yield to stablecoin holders. Community banks argue that a loophole exists because exchanges and affiliated partners can still offer rewards on stablecoin balances, even if the issuer itself does not pay yield. Smaller banks are more concerned than large banks because they rely heavily on local deposits. Any outflow of deposits could directly reduce lending to small businesses and households. Read more

The Community Bankers Council has asked the Senate for a crypto market structure bill that will ban exchanges and others offering interest on stablecoins. A group of US community bankers is pressuring Congress to change the GENIUS Act to close a supposed “loophole” that allows yield-generating stablecoins to undercut banks. The American Bankers Association’s Community Bankers Council said in a letter on Monday to the Senate that it must tighten the stablecoin regulating bill passed last year to stop stablecoin issuers from offering yield to tokenholders through third parties. “Some companies have exploited a perceived loophole allowing stablecoin issuers to indirectly fund payments to stablecoin holders through digital asset exchanges and other partners,” the group of more than 200 community bank leaders said. Read more

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong warned that reopening the GENIUS Act would cross a “red line,” accusing banks of lobbying Congress to block stablecoin rewards and limit competition. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said any attempt to reopen the GENIUS Act would cross a “red line,” accusing banks of using political pressure to block competition from stablecoins and fintech platforms. In a Sunday post on X, Armstrong said he was “impressed” banks could lobby Congress so openly without backlash, adding that Coinbase would continue pushing back on efforts to revise the law. “We won’t let anyone reopen GENIUS,” he wrote. “My prediction is the banks will actually flip and be lobbying FOR the ability to pay interest and yield on stablecoins in a few years, once they realize how big the opportunity is for them. So it’s 100% wasted effort on their part (in addition to being unethical),” Armstrong added. Read more

The bank said bipartisan Senate talks on market structure legislation and parallel GENIUS Act rulemaking could deliver a workable U.S. crypto framework by early 2026.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s proposal outlines how banks could seek approval to issue payment stablecoins as US regulators move from legislation to rule-making. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) is moving forward with rule-making under the US GENIUS Act by proposing a framework for how regulated banks could apply to issue payment stablecoins, a key early step in implementing the law’s stablecoin provisions. In a 38-page document posted to the FDIC’s website, the agency detailed proposed approval requirements for the issuance of payment stablecoins by subsidiaries of FDIC-supervised institutions.  As Bloomberg reported, the proposal is subject to a public consultation period before advancing to the next stage of the rulemaking process. Read more

The US Treasury Department accepted comments related to the implementation of the stablecoin bill until Tuesday as part of the law’s planned rollout. Stablecoin issuer Circle has advocated for a level playing field among banks, nonbanks and stablecoin issuers as the US Treasury Department considers implementing the GENIUS Act following its signing into law in July.  In comments submitted on Tuesday as part of the Treasury’s notice of proposed rulemaking for GENIUS, Circle was one of many crypto companies that weighed in on how the US government should implement the law establishing a framework for payment stablecoins. While the company reiterated many of the principles for which proponents of the bill had advocated, such as having stablecoins “fully backed with cash and high quality liquid assets,” it also urged the government to set clear requirements for enforcement and consequences for noncompliance. Read more

Traditional banks will be battling with stablecoin issuers for retail depositors when the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act takes full effect in a win for everyday people. The stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act, which was enacted in July, will trigger an exodus of deposits from traditional bank accounts into higher-yield stablecoins, according to the co-founder of Multicoin Capital. “The GENIUS Bill is the beginning of the end for banks’ ability to rip off their retail depositors with minimal interest,” Multicoin Capital’s co-founder and managing partner, Tushar Jain, posted to X on Saturday. “Post Genius Bill, I expect the big tech giants with mega distribution (Meta, Google, Apple, etc) to start competing with banks for retail deposits,” Jain added, arguing that they would offer better stablecoin yields with a better user experience for instant settlement and 24/7 payments over traditional banking players. Read more

Stablecoin builders have a narrow window to establish competitive advantages before the GENIUS Act’s full implementation, as critical regulatory details remain undetermined. According to a report by Variant Fund policy lead Salah Ghazzal, early compliance preparation could create lasting market moats while competitors wait for complete regulatory clarity. The legislation establishes clear directional requirements but […] The post Stablecoin builders rush to preempt regulatory challenges with GENIUS Act on horizon appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The U.S. Treasury Department launched a formal process to transform the newly enacted GENIUS Act into a framework of regulations for stablecoins, inviting the public and crypto industry to weigh in on key compliance issues. The department opened an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on Sept. 18, the first step in gathering feedback before drafting […] The post Treasury opens comment period to shape GENIUS Act into stablecoin regulation appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Sate Senator Keith Kelley of Alabama echoed concerns made by some banking groups after the passage of the GENIUS Act in July. Keith Kelley, a Republican state senator representing Alabama’s 12th district, is sounding the alarm for the potential impact of the federal stablecoin bill, the GENIUS Act, two months after it was signed into law by US President Donald Trump. In a Wednesday op-ed for 1819 News, Kelley said there was a loophole in the GENIUS Act that, if exploited, could “devastate” the economies of rural areas like many in Alabama. According to the senator, the bill would allow “cryptocurrency platforms to distribute financial rewards,” incentivizing people to withdraw funds or close accounts at small community banks in the state. Read more

Federal Reserve officials focused significantly on stablecoins during their July 29-30 meeting, analyzing potential impacts on the financial system following the passage of the GENIUS Act. In the minutes released on Aug. 20, the members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) mentioned the digital tokens multiple times. Stablecoins discussed extensively The officials mentioned “payment […] The post Fed discusses stablecoins extensively in recent FOMC meeting following GENIUS Act passage appeared first on CryptoSlate.