Delaware lawmakers have introduced two companion bills that would update state financial law and create a licensing framework for stablecoins and digital-asset businesses. Senator Spiros Mantzavinos and Representative Bill Bush filed the Delaware Banking Modernization Act (Senate Bill 16) and the Delaware Payment Stablecoin Act (Senate Bill 19), which state Democrats summarized in a joint announcement.
The Delaware Payment Stablecoin Act would establish licensing requirements for stablecoin issuers and digital-asset service providers operating in the state. Its text borrows definitions and language from recent federal models, including the federal Stablecoins Act, and outlines potential consumer and prudential safeguards such as reserve shortfall remediation cascades, mandatory redemption timing standards, capital requirements, and anti-money-laundering obligations. If enacted, the bill directs the State Bank Commissioner to adopt implementing rules within a specified timeframe.
The Delaware Banking Modernization Act focuses primarily on updating traditional banking law—refreshing corporate governance and organizational standards for local banks—but explicitly adds definitions for digital assets to clarify how those instruments intersect with banking activities. Rep. Bush has said the state’s banking code has not been modernized in decades and should reflect contemporary transaction and banking practices.
Governor Matt Meyer framed the package as an effort to “democratize” financial services and lower barriers so residents can send, receive, and save money with an internet connection. Delaware, which launched a Blockchain Initiative in 2016 and has positioned itself as business- and crypto-friendly, hopes the measures will bolster its competitiveness and possibly attract firms that have left the state—such as Coinbase, which reincorporated in Texas after raising concerns about Delaware’s Chancery Court.
Both bills will be reviewed by the Senate Banking Committee before any full-Senate debate. Lawmakers also signaled plans to file a separate Delaware Money Transmission & Virtual Currency Modernization Act to tighten consumer protections and clarify the licensing triggers for money transmission and virtual-currency activities.
The state proposals arrive amid active movement on crypto policy at the federal level. Senators Bill Cassidy and Cynthia Lummis have promoted legislation to modernize crypto tax rules, including a proposed $300 de minimis exemption for purchases, measures to avoid double taxation of miners and stakers, and broader alignment of crypto tax treatment with other financial assets. Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently sent two proposed rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget; one of those rules could lead to most crypto assets no longer being treated as securities under federal law, a shift that would push primary oversight for non-securities toward the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said clearer allocation of oversight is intended to end the industry’s regulatory “limbo.”
If enacted, Delaware’s bills would be among the state-level efforts to create clearer rules for digital assets while dovetailing with ongoing federal debates about taxation and regulatory authority. Lawmakers and regulators still must finalize texts and move them through the legislative and rulemaking processes before any new regime takes effect.