Treasury Opens 60-Day Comment Window on GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rule

The U.S. Treasury opened a 60-day comment period on its proposed rule for stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act, starting a clock that runs through June 2, 2026. The agency published the notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on April 3.

The proposal sets a $10 billion ceiling: state-qualified payment stablecoin issuers with consolidated outstanding issuance of no more than that amount may opt for state regulation, provided their state's regime is deemed "substantially similar" to federal standards. That cap applies to corporate groups, not just individual tokens or affiliates. Treasury did not pre-clear any state's framework in the proposal.

The draft standard would evaluate state oversight through broad principles, not a uniform rulebook. Treasury said the similarity finding is essential for the state pathway to be available. Without it, even an issuer under the $10 billion cap cannot rely on state supervision.

The rulemaking follows broader industry efforts to standardize stablecoin compliance, such as Mastercard's test of a single-audit framework with Borderless.xyz.

Stakeholders have until June 2 to submit comments on how the similarity test should work and how Treasury should measure consolidated issuance. The agency invited public input in an April 1 press release, with the Federal Register publication starting the 60-day countdown.

Independent reporting in July noted that the state-similarity proposal remained in proposed form alongside other GENIUS Act rulemakings, with regulators still seeking comment rather than finalizing midyear, The Block reported.

The June 2 deadline sets the next milestone. Until Treasury finalizes the rule, which state regimes clear the "substantially similar" bar, and which sub-$10 billion issuers can use state oversight, will remain unresolved.