Treasury puts a date on stablecoin licensing
From January 2027 issuing without a licence becomes unlawful, and platforms must vet offshore tokens. The proposed transition period was rejected.
3 minDecentralised Finance
The US Treasury has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking implementing Section 3 of the GENIUS Act, the part that establishes federal oversight of payment stablecoin issuance. Two dates matter. From January 2027, issuing a payment stablecoin domestically without a licence becomes unlawful, with an exception for foreign issuers from comparable jurisdictions holding OCC registration. From 18 July 2028, digital asset platforms may not offer a stablecoin to US persons unless a licensed issuer created it.
The obligations land on exchanges too
Platforms must perform reasonable due diligence before listing an offshore stablecoin, including confirming that no secondary-trading ban stands against its issuer. Foreign issuers, for their part, must show they reasonably believed buyers were outside the United States, maintained genuine operational controls, and did not market to US persons.
Penalties are personal and specific. Knowing participation in unlawful issuance — market-making, white-labelling, or coordinating minting — carries fines up to $1 million and five years imprisonment per violation.
The rejection is as informative as the rules. Treasury declined a proposed 36-month transition and declined a carve-out for offshore tokens below $1 billion of US-held market capitalisation, saying consumer protection took priority over a gradual path. Anyone whose plan assumed a small-issuer exemption no longer has one.
The proposal appeared in the Federal Register this week, opening a 60-day comment window, and poses 87 questions. That number is a signal in itself: a rule with 87 open questions is not finished, and the answers will decide how much of the above survives in its current shape.
Retold from Bankless. This is a summary in our own words; follow the link for the original reporting.