Treasury seeks input on when stablecoin issuers need licenses and when foreign tokens reach U.S. customers. Comments due 60 days after Federal Register publication.
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The Treasury Department published a notice of proposed rulemaking Monday proposing a framework for the GENIUS Act's stablecoin licensing rules. The rule would set when a payment stablecoin issuer needs a federal or state license, and when foreign-issued stablecoins can be offered and sold in the U.S.
The rule implements Section 3 of the GENIUS Act, the first crypto-specific law in the U.S., signed by Trump in July. Section 3 bars unlicensed issuance of payment stablecoins in the U.S. It also restricts distribution: digital asset service providers may not make a foreign-issued stablecoin available unless the issuer can and will comply with any lawful order and any reciprocal arrangement between the U.S. and the issuer's home jurisdiction. Offering or selling payment stablecoins to U.S. residents is likewise limited to tokens from licensed issuers.
Treasury said Monday the notice is meant to clarify when an issuer needs a license and when and how stablecoins can be sold. The notice asks for comment on what counts as "issuing a payment stablecoin in the United States" and how foreign-issued tokens should be treated. Under the statute, a stablecoin sold in the U.S. must come from a licensed issuer, and a foreign token needs a reciprocal arrangement. Those two tests are the subject of the comment request. The NPRM lays out a proposed framework, not final text.
The licensing requirement reaches every firm that issues or holds dollar-denominated stablecoins. Issuers must decide whether to seek a federal or state license. Foreign issuers cannot make their tokens available to U.S. holders unless the home jurisdiction has a reciprocal arrangement. Exchanges and wallet providers must check each token against both rules; payment processors face the same question. The reciprocal-arrangement clause applies to any token issued outside the U.S. and puts the burden on the issuer to prove it can and will comply with U.S. orders.
The comment period will turn on the scope of two phrases: "issuing a payment stablecoin in the United States" and "making available." An issuer inside the first test needs a license. A foreign token without a reciprocal arrangement, or a token that fails the second test, cannot be offered or sold in the U.S. A broad reading of either phrase would tighten access for foreign tokens and add compliance work for U.S. platforms. The comment period is the chance to narrow those definitions before the final rule.
The department will accept comments for 60 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register, and has not set a date for a final rule. Treasury has been building toward the rule for months: it issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking in September, and in August it asked for comment on detecting illicit activity involving digital assets.
Compliance infrastructure is already being built for this kind of oversight; Mastercard and Borderless.xyz are testing a single-audit stablecoin compliance model. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the GENIUS Act "a landmark framework and clear rules of the road for payment stablecoins." He said the department is "moving quickly to implement that framework" and wants input so it can provide "the regulatory certainty businesses need to innovate and grow in America."
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