This bill became law on 2025-07-18 as Public Law No. 119-27.
The summary below describes the bill at the version we last reviewed; the enacted text may differ.
YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyCivil LibertiesCriminal Justice & Due ProcessCorporate BenefitsTransparency & AccountabilityTargeted & Unrelated ProvisionsNow law: crypto dollar tokens must be backed one for one, pay you nothing, and are not FDIC insured.
Your Money
For every token in circulation, the issuer must hold a dollar in cash, bank deposits, or Treasury bills maturing within 93 days. Those reserves cannot be lent out or reused.
Each issuer must post its redemption policy and every purchase and redemption fee in plain words. Fees cannot go up without at least seven days' notice to customers.
If an issuer goes broke, people holding its tokens are paid from the reserves before any other creditor. Bankruptcy courts must try to start those payouts within 14 days of the required hearing.
These tokens are not covered by FDIC deposit insurance and are not backed by the government. Saying otherwise is illegal, and marketing a product as a stablecoin when it is not can bring fines up to $500,000 each time.
Issuers may not pay interest, yield, or rewards to people just for holding a token. The ban covers payments in cash, in tokens, or in any other form.
Starting July 18, 2028, exchanges and other digital asset firms may only offer stablecoins from approved issuers. Tokens from unapproved issuers must come off those platforms.
Civil Liberties
A qualifying order must clearly identify which tokens or accounts it covers. It must also be open to review or appeal.
A large non-financial company allowed to issue tokens cannot use payment data to target ads, sell it, or share it with outside firms without your consent. It can still share data to answer subpoenas and other legal demands.
The law does not reach direct transfers between two people, moves between your own accounts, or tokens held in your own hardware or software wallet. People who write wallet code or run network computers are also outside the rules.
Every issuer must be able to freeze, block, or destroy its tokens when a court or a federal agency lawfully orders it. An issuer that cannot do this may not issue tokens at all.
Issuers are treated as financial institutions under anti-money-laundering law. They must identify account holders, keep records, watch for suspicious transfers, and report them.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Knowingly issuing a payment stablecoin in the United States without approval can bring a fine up to $1 million, up to five years in prison, or both. Regulators can refer these cases to the Attorney General.
Each month the chief executive and chief financial officer must sign a statement that the reserve report is accurate. Signing one they know is false brings the same criminal penalties as lying about a public company's financial statements.
Corporate Benefits
Approved payment stablecoins are written out of the definition of a security and of a commodity in six federal laws. That keeps issuers outside SEC and CFTC registration, and outside the fund that protects brokerage customers.
Regulators may not force banks to list customer digital assets as debts on their books. They also cannot make banks set aside extra money against those assets, apart from day-to-day operating risk.
A regulator has 120 days to decide on a complete application. If it misses that deadline, the application counts as approved.
A public company that is not mainly a financial firm cannot issue tokens unless the Treasury Secretary, the Federal Reserve Chair, and the FDIC Chair all agree. They must find no serious risk to the banking system, and they must impose limits on how payment data is used.
Transparency & Accountability
Every issuer must publish on its website how many tokens are outstanding and what backs them, including how long the assets run and where they are held. An outside accounting firm examines the figures each month.
An issuer with more than $50 billion in tokens outstanding must publish audited yearly financial statements, unless it already files them with the SEC. The audit follows public-company standards and must disclose deals with related parties.
Federal financial disclosure forms now cover stablecoin holdings. Amounts of $5,000 or less do not have to be listed.
A person convicted of insider trading, embezzlement, cybercrime, money laundering, terrorism financing, or financial fraud cannot serve as an officer or director of a stablecoin issuer. Regulators also weigh this when reviewing applications.
The law confirms that existing ethics rules stop these officials from issuing a stablecoin while they serve. It names members of Congress and senior executive branch officials.
Targeted & Unrelated Provisions
Federal savings institutions normally must keep most of their assets in housing-related lending. Reserves backing stablecoins do not count against that test.
States that already regulated digital assets before this law get a presumption in their favor. Their issuers above $10 billion can stay under state supervision unless a federal regulator shows clear and convincing evidence of a problem.
More about this bill
Dollar-pegged digital tokens now have a federal rulebook. If you do not use them, you see no change. If you hold one, the issuer must keep a dollar in cash or short-term Treasury bills for every token. Issuers cannot lend those reserves out. They must post what backs the tokens every month. They must also list every purchase and redemption fee in plain words. Fees can only rise after seven days' notice. These tokens pay you nothing. The law bars issuers from paying interest or yield just for holding one. The tokens carry no FDIC insurance and no government guarantee. Claiming otherwise is a crime. If an issuer fails, holders are paid from the reserves before any other creditor. In a crisis, regulators may limit how fast you can cash out. Only approved firms may issue these tokens. An issuer can be a bank unit, a federally approved nonbank, or a state-approved firm under $10 billion. Issuing without approval can bring five years in prison and a $1 million fine. Issuers must check who their customers are. They must report suspicious transfers. They must also be able to freeze or destroy tokens when a court or agency orders it. Such orders must name the tokens they cover. They can be appealed. The rules take effect January 18, 2027, or 120 days after regulators issue final rules, whichever comes first. From July 2028, exchanges may only sell approved tokens. Sending tokens straight to another person is not covered. Neither is holding tokens in your own wallet. Large retail or tech firms need a unanimous federal vote before issuing. They also cannot use payment data to target ads. The law states these tokens are not securities or commodities.
Congressional Summary
Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act or the GENIUS Act This act establishes a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins (digital assets which an issuer must redeem for a fixed value). Under the act, only permitted issuers may issue a payment stablecoin for use by U.S. persons, subject to certain exceptions and safe harbors. Permitted issuers must be a subsidiary of an insured depository institution, a federal-qualified nonbank payment stablecoin issuer, or a state-qualified payment stablecoin issuer. Permitted issuers must be regulated by the appropriate federal or state regulator. Permitted issuers may choose federal or state regulation; however, state regulation is limited to those with a stablecoin issuance of $10 billion or less. Permitted issuers must maintain reserves backing the stablecoin on a one-to-one basis using U.S. currency or other similarly liquid assets, as specified. Permitted issuers must also publicly disclose their redemption policy and publish monthly the details of their reserves. The act specifies requirements for (1) reusing reserves; (2) providing safekeeping services for stablecoins; and (3) supervisory, examination, and enforcement authority over federal-qualified issuers. The act allows foreign issuers of stablecoins to offer, sell, or make available in the United States stablecoins using digital asset service providers, subject to requirements, including a determination by the Department of Treasury that they are subject to comparable foreign regulations. Under the act, permitted payment stablecoins are not considered securities or commodities under law. However, permitted issuers are subject to the Bank Secrecy Act for anti-money laundering and related purposes. (Sec. 3) This section establishes that only payment stablecoin issuers permitted under this act are allowed to issue a payment stablecoin in the United States. Knowing violations of this requirement shall be subject to a fine of up to $1 million for each violation, up to 5 years imprisonment, or both. Treasury may issue regulations establishing limited safe harbors from this requirement that are consistent with the act's purposes, limited in scope, and apply to a de minimus volume of transactions. Three years after the date of enactment, digital asset service providers are prohibited from offering or selling stablecoins that are not issued by permitted issuers. Providers are also prohibited from offering, selling, or otherwise making available in the United States a foreign-issued payment stablecoin, unless it complies with requirements provided in section 18 of the act. (Sec. 4) This section establishes requirements for permitted issuers. Issuers must maintain reserves on a one-to-one basis. Reserves must be comprised of U.S. coins and currency; demand deposits or shares at an insured depository institution; certain Treasury acts, notes, or bonds; money received under certain repurchase agreements or reverse repurchase agreements; certain investment company securities and money market funds invested in certain approved assets on this list; similarly liquid federal assets approved by regulators; or certain listed reserves in tokenized forms. Issuers must comply with redemption requirements, such as establishing timely redemption procedures and disclosing such procedures and associated fees. Issuers must also report on the monthly composition of the issuer's reserves. These reports must be examined by a registered public accounting firm and certified by the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the issuer. The section prohibits the rehypothecation, or reuse, of reserves with limited exceptions. Primary federal payment stablecoin regulators (federal regulators) and state payment stablecoin regulators (state regulators), where applicable, must issue regulations to implement capital requirements, liquidity reserve standards, reserve asset diversification standards, and risk management standards. Issuers are subject to the anti-money laundering and counterterrorism requirements that are applicable to financial institutions. The section sets forth requirements regarding activities of a permitted issuer, including by prohibiting issuers from providing services on the condition that a customer obtains an additional paid product or service from the issuer or a subsidiary. Large issuers (those with more than $50 billion in consolidated total outstanding issuance) must publish an audited annual financial statement in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. The section prohibits a public nonfinancial services company from issuing payment stablecoins unless the company obtains unanimous approval from the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee. A state qualified payment stablecoin issuer with a consolidated total outstanding issuance of not more than $10 billion may opt for state regulation if such regulation is substantially similar to the federal regulatory framework under this act. If the issuance exceeds that amount, the issuer must transition to federal regulation, receive a waiver from the federal regulator to remain under state regulation, or stop issuing stablecoins until the issuance is under the threshold. (Sec. 5) This section establishes requirements for stablecoins issued by subsidiaries of insured depository institutions and certain entities chartered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to issue payment stablecoins. Federal regulators must establish an application process and a supervision framework for such entities. The section sets forth requirements for the review of applications, explanations for denials, and an appeals process. (Sec. 6) This section sets forth supervision, examination, and enforcement requirements for payment stablecoin issuers under federal supervision. The provisions include reporting on financial conditions, risk management, compliance with the act, and compliance with sanctions and anti-money laundering requirements. The section specifies that payment stablecoin issuers with less than $10 billion in consolidated total outstanding issuance are subject to federal supervision if they are not state qualified payment stablecoin issuers. The section establishes civil penalties for violations of this act that are committed by those subject to federal supervision. (Sec. 7) This section establishes state regulatory authority over issuers that qualify for and elect state regulation. The Federal Reserve Board may exercise enforcement authority over state issuers in unusual and exigent circumstances. The OCC must exercise enforcement authority over nonbank state issuers in these circumstances. (Sec. 8) This section requires foreign issuers to comply with the terms of lawful orders to be allowed to offer, sell, or make available for trading a payment stablecoin in the United States. The section sets forth enforcement and appeal provisions. Treasury may waive the prohibition against the secondary trading of foreign payment stablecoins in the United States from noncompliant foreign issuers on a case-by-case basis if certain criteria are met. (Sec. 9) Treasury must seek public comment regarding methods, techniques, or strategies for financial institutions to detect illicit activities involving digital assets and perform research and risk assessments on such methods, techniques, or strategies. Treasury must report their legislative recommendations to Congress and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network must issue rules based on the results. (Sec. 10) This section establishes requirements for custodial or safekeeping services for payment stablecoin reserves, collateral, and the private keys used to issue stablecoins. Among other requirements, such property must be separately accounted for and not comingled with other assets of the custodian. (Sec. 11) This section addresses the treatment of payment stablecoins and stablecoin issuers in bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings, including their claim priority, conditions for an automatic stay, and the treatment of reserves as property of the estate. Federal regulators must also report on topics regarding potential insolvency proceedings of issuers. (Sec. 12) Federal regulators may, if determined necessary after an assessment, prescribe technical standards for issuers to promote compatibility and interoperability with other issuers and the broader digital finance system. (Sec. 13) This section requires regulators to issue regulations to carry out the act, with federal and state regulators and Treasury coordinating as appropriate. (Sec. 14) This section requires Treasury to study and report on nonpayment stablecoins, including endogenously collateralized payment stablecoins (a digital asset the originator of which has represented will be converted, redeemed, or repurchased for a fixed amount of monetary value and that relies solely on the value of another digital asset created or maintained by the same originator to maintain the fixed price). (Sec. 15) This section requires federal regulators to annually report on payment stablecoin activity trends, the number of payment stablecoin issuer applicants, and the potential financial stability risks to the safety and soundness of the broader financial system posed by payment stablecoin activities. (Sec. 16) This section defines authorities related to the act, such as by providing that the act does not limit the authority of a depository institution, credit union, national bank, or trust company to issue digital assets to represent deposits or shares. Federal financial regulators may not require a financial institution to include certain digital assets held in its custody as a liability on financial statements or balance sheets. (Sec. 17) This section establishes that payment stablecoins issued by permitted issuers are not securities or commodities under federal law. (Sec. 18) This section provides an exception to the act's prohibition on foreign-issued payment stablecoins. For the exception to apply, foreign issuers must be subject to regulation and supervision by a foreign country that is comparable to the requirements under this act, as determined by Treasury. The foreign issuer must also be registered with the OCC, hold sufficient reserves in a U.S. financial institution (subject to exceptions), and the country where the issuer is domiciled must not be subject to U.S. sanctions. The section sets forth requirements for Treasury's determination as to whether a foreign country has comparable regulatory and supervisory requirements, including the process of requesting a determination, the deadline for Treasury to render a decision, and the process by which Treasury may rescind a previous determination. The section also sets forth OCC registration requirements. Treasury may implement reciprocal or bilateral agreements between the United States and jurisdictions with comparable regulatory requirements. (Sec. 19) This section requires certain federal employees to disclose holdings over $5,000 of permitted payment stablecoins as part of required financial disclosures. (Sec. 20) The act takes effect on the earlier of (1) 18 months after the date of enactment, or (2) 120 days after federal regulators issue final regulations implementing the act.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Public Law
- Action Date
- 2025-07-18
- Date Added
- 2026-07-30
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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