Treasury issues first proposed rule implementing GENIUS Act

In its first proposed rule issued to implement the GENIUS Act, the Treasury Department outlined Wednesday how federal regulators will evaluate whether state-level rules for payment stablecoin issuers appropriately align with federal standards.

Under the GENIUS Act, state-qualified payment stablecoin issuers with a consolidated total outstanding issuance of payment stablecoins of no more than $10 billion can opt-in to state regulation, provided those regimes are deemed “substantially similar” to federal rules.  Treasury’s proposal outlines a framework of general principles to guide the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee when it assesses whether a state-level regulatory regime meets minimum federal standards. 

Treasury identifies two general categories of rules that it will evaluate for determining alignment between federal and state regimes: 

• “State-calibrated requirements,” which can be tailored based on the discretionary authority granted to states by the GENIUS Act, and  
   
• “Uniform requirements,” which must be consistent with the federal regulatory framework in all substantive respects. 

America’s Credit Unions is evaluating the proposal and will provide comments.