The US Treasury Department said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a joint proposed rule to implement portions of the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin payments law signed in July 2025. The proposal would require payment stablecoin issuers in the United States to implement a regime aimed at combating illicit finance.
Under the proposal, stablecoin issuers would need 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 capacity to block, freeze and reject certain stablecoin transactions. Issuers would be treated as financial institutions for purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
“Bringing stablecoin issuers into full BSA/OFAC compliance effectively turns them into bank-like gatekeepers,” Snir Levi, CEO of blockchain intelligence firm Nominis, said. “That means significantly more wallet freezes, transaction blocking and asset seizures at scale.”
The GENIUS Act creates a framework for stablecoin issuers and is expected to boost crypto markets. It becomes effective 18 months after enactment in July 2025 or 120 days after federal authorities issue related regulations, whichever comes later.
Separately, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued its own proposed rule as part of GENIUS Act implementation. The FDIC proposal says stablecoin holders would not be insured under the law, though reserve deposits held by issuers would receive protection.
Meanwhile, Congress has not advanced a broader digital asset market framework: the CLARITY Act, which passed the House last year, remains stalled in the Senate. The Senate Banking Committee has not scheduled a required markup, delaying a full Senate vote. In the meantime, crypto and banking industry representatives have been meeting with White House officials to discuss stablecoin yield, tokenized equities and ethics.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers said a proposed ban on stablecoin yield in the CLARITY Act “would do very little to protect bank lending” and would impose costs on users.
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