GENIUS Act Stablecoin Licensing Explained (Oct 2026)

The law in one minute

What the GENIUS Act does

The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (S. 1582, Public Law 119-27) became law on July 18, 2025.¹² It is codified at 12 U.S.C. 5901 and following sections.³

Its core rule is simple: it is unlawful for anyone other than a “permitted payment stablecoin issuer” to issue a payment stablecoin in the United States.⁴ Knowingly taking part in a violation can bring a fine of up to $1,000,000 per violation, up to 5 years in prison, or both.⁴

A payment stablecoin is a digital asset used for payment or settlement whose issuer must redeem it for a fixed amount of money and keeps a stable value. The definition excludes national currencies, securities, and bank deposits, including deposits recorded on a blockchain (tokenized deposits).³

Approved issuers must, among other things, back their stablecoins with reserves, publish monthly reserve reports examined by a registered public accounting firm (with CEO and CFO certification), and may not pay holders interest or yield just for holding, using, or keeping the stablecoin.⁵

Who needs approval

Three kinds of permitted issuer

The Act recognizes exactly three types of “permitted payment stablecoin issuer,” each formed in the United States:³

Bank route

Subsidiary of an insured bank or credit union

An insured depository institution issues through a subsidiary approved under section 5 of the Act. Banks and credit unions themselves cannot be the issuer.⁶¹⁴

Federal route

Federal qualified issuer

A nonbank entity, an uninsured national bank chartered by the OCC, or a federal branch, approved and supervised by the OCC.⁶³

State route

State qualified issuer

An issuer approved by a state regulator, available only up to $10 billion in outstanding issuance and only in states whose regime is certified as “substantially similar” to the federal one.⁵

Also worth knowing

Platforms and exchanges: starting 3 years after enactment (July 18, 2028), a digital asset service provider may not offer or sell a payment stablecoin to people in the U.S. unless it comes from a permitted issuer, subject to the Act's exceptions for qualifying foreign issuers.⁴
Big non-financial public companies: a public company not mainly engaged in financial activities may issue only with a unanimous vote of the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee (Treasury Secretary as chair, plus the Fed and FDIC chairs) and must meet data-use and anti-tying conditions.⁵³
Foreign issuers: may be offered in the U.S. only if they meet the Act's conditions. The OCC's final rule covers examination and supervision of foreign issuers.⁴⁸
Not covered: person-to-person transfers without an intermediary and self-custody wallets are carved out of the offer and sale rules.⁴

Federal vs. state paths

Which regulator decides

The Act names a “primary Federal payment stablecoin regulator” for each kind of issuer.³ Here's how it maps out:

Issuer type	Who approves and supervises	Rulemaking so far
Subsidiary of a national bank or federal savings association	OCC	Final rule Oct 21, 2026⁸
Nonbank “federal qualified” issuer, uninsured national bank, federal branch	OCC	Final rule Oct 21, 2026⁸
Subsidiary of a state member bank	Federal Reserve Board	Proposed Sep 24, 2026; comments due Nov 30, 2026¹¹
Subsidiary of a state nonmember bank or state savings association	FDIC	Proposed Dec 2025 (applications) and Apr 7, 2026 (standards)¹²¹³
Subsidiary of a federally insured credit union	NCUA	Proposed Feb 2026 (licensing) and May 2026 (standards)¹⁴¹⁵
State qualified issuer, up to $10B outstanding	State regulator, under a regime certified by the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee	Proposed Treasury principles (Apr 2026); Interim final certification procedures (Sep 30, 2026)¹⁶¹⁷

How a federal application works

Within 30 days, the regulator says whether the application is “substantially complete.”
It must decide within 120 days after the application is substantially complete.
It may deny only if the activities would be unsafe or unsound under the statutory factors. Using an open, public blockchain is not a valid reason to deny.
A denial must be explained in writing within 30 days, and the applicant may request a hearing within 30 days.

Source: 12 U.S.C. 5904.⁶

What reviewers look at

Financial condition and resources to meet the Act's requirements
Competence, experience, and integrity of officers, directors, and principal shareholders
No officers or directors convicted of certain felonies (fraud, money laundering, and similar)
A redemption policy that meets the statute

The OCC's application guidance also asks for a business plan, reserve assets, issuance and redemption processes, risk management, capital and liquidity, and BSA/AML details.⁶⁹

The ~$10B line

The $10 billion threshold

A state qualified issuer with consolidated total outstanding issuance of no more than $10,000,000,000 may choose state-level regulation, as long as the state regime is “substantially similar” to the federal framework.⁵

Once an issuer's stablecoin goes above $10 billion, it must either:

transition to the federal framework within 360 days of crossing the threshold (supervised jointly or in coordination with its state regulator), or
stop issuing new stablecoins until it is back under $10 billion.

The relevant federal regulator may grant a waiver letting a larger issuer remain solely state-supervised, based on criteria in the statute such as capital, past operations and exam history, and the state regulator's experience.⁵

For states: a state regulator must submit an initial certification to the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee no later than 1 year after the Act's effective date, which works out to January 18, 2028, and recertify annually.⁵¹⁷ Treasury says it will post a notice when it begins accepting certifications; that date is not yet announced.¹⁷

Key dates

Timeline

Past dates are from agency releases and the Federal Register. Future dates come from the statute or agency rules. Anything not yet set is marked “not yet announced.”

July 18, 2025GENIUS Act signed into law.¹⁷
September 2025Treasury issues an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on implementing the Act.¹⁶
December 16, 2025FDIC proposes application procedures for subsidiaries of FDIC-supervised banks.¹²
February 2026NCUA proposes licensing rules for credit union subsidiaries (Federal Register, Feb 12).¹⁴
February 25, 2026OCC proposes its GENIUS Act rule (Federal Register, Mar 2).⁸
April 1, 2026Treasury proposes principles for judging whether a state regime is “substantially similar.”¹⁶
April 7, 2026FDIC proposes reserve, capital, redemption, and risk standards, plus deposit insurance and tokenized deposit clarifications.¹³
April 2026FinCEN and OFAC propose anti-money-laundering and sanctions program rules for permitted issuers (Federal Register, Apr 10).¹⁸
May 15, 2026NCUA proposes standards for NCUA-licensed issuers.¹⁵
September 24, 2026Federal Reserve Board proposes two rules: standards and applications. Comments are due November 30, 2026.¹¹
September 30, 2026Treasury's interim final rule on state certification forms and procedures takes effect. Comments are due November 30, 2026.¹⁷
October 21, 2026OCC issues its final rule (Bulletin 2026-50; Federal Register, Oct 23) and waiver and application guidance (Bulletin 2026-51).⁸⁹¹⁰
Not yet announcedDate the OCC begins accepting applications and waiver requests. That comes after OMB approves the application forms.⁹¹⁹
January 18, 2027The Act and the OCC final rule take effect. Issuing without approval becomes unlawful, subject to any waivers.⁷⁹
Up to January 18, 2028Maximum length of a section 5(f) waiver (no more than 12 months from Jan 18, 2027) for applicants with a pending application. This is also the statutory deadline for states' initial certifications.⁹⁵
July 18, 2028Platforms may no longer offer or sell stablecoins from non-permitted issuers to people in the U.S., subject to the Act's exceptions.⁴

Where things stand

Status as of October 25, 2026

Agency	Status	Detail
OCC	Final rule	Issued Oct 21, 2026, effective Jan 18, 2027, mostly in a new 12 CFR Part 15. It covers activities, reserves, redemption, risk management, custody, applications, capital, and foreign issuers. AML and sanctions rules come separately with Treasury.⁸¹⁰
OCC applications	Not yet open	The OCC “is not yet accepting waivers or applications” and will announce the start by press release. It generally expects to grant waivers of the prior-approval requirement for existing U.S. issuers with a substantially complete application pending by Jan 18, 2027.⁹¹⁹
Federal Reserve Board	Proposed	Standards rule (R-1899) and applications rule (R-1900) were proposed; comments are due Nov 30, 2026. Final rule: not yet announced.¹¹
FDIC	Proposed	Application procedures (Dec 2025) and standards (Apr 2026) were proposed. Final rules: not yet announced.¹²¹³
NCUA	Proposed	Licensing (Feb 2026) and standards (May 2026) were proposed, and both comment periods have closed. Final rules: not yet announced.¹⁴¹⁵
Treasury	Proposed Interim final	The “substantially similar” principles were proposed in Apr 2026, and the final rule is not yet announced. The certification procedures interim final rule took effect Sep 30, 2026, but certifications won't be accepted until after Paperwork Reduction Act approval.¹⁶¹⁷
FinCEN / OFAC	Proposed	AML/CFT and sanctions compliance program rules for permitted issuers were proposed in Apr 2026. Final rule: not yet announced.¹⁸

“Not yet announced” means we found no public announcement in agency releases or the Federal Register as of October 25, 2026. Always check the linked source for the latest.

Comparing stablecoin and tokenized deposit rates? Our sister site TokenizedDepositRates.com tracks rates with dated sources and has a plain-English GENIUS Act guide on what the rules mean for savers.

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Sources

Who may issue a stablecoin in the U.S. under the GENIUS Act