US regulators miss GENIUS Act deadline for final stablecoin rules
US federal regulators reached the GENIUS Act’s one-year rulemaking deadline on July 18 without issuing final regulations to implement the country’s federal stablecoin framework, The Block reported. As of that day, the principal rule packages from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration and the Treasury Department remained proposals rather than final rules.
President Donald Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, known as the GENIUS Act, on July 18, 2025. Section 13 of the law directed the primary federal payment stablecoin regulators, together with the Treasury secretary and state stablecoin regulators, to finalize implementing regulations through notice-and-comment rulemaking within one year, according to The Block.
Ten notices of proposed rulemaking were published during that year, but none were completed in final form, Cointribune reported. The Treasury Department issued four of the proposals, covering the law’s overall implementation, standards for determining whether state stablecoin regimes match the federal framework, registration requirements for foreign issuers, and anti-money-laundering rules. The OCC issued two proposals, the FDIC one, and the NCUA opened a comment process for credit unions, according to Cointribune.
Comment periods on some of the outstanding proposals remain open well past the deadline. A joint customer identification rule stays open for comment until August 21, while an FDIC anti-money-laundering proposal remains open until August 4, The Block reported.
Missing the deadline does not delay the law’s effective date, which remains January 18, 2027, or 120 days after final rules are issued by the primary federal regulators, whichever is earlier, according to Blockonomi. Because the 120-day window would no longer move the effective date forward if rules are finalized after September 20, the missed deadline compresses the period issuers, banks and exchanges have to prepare for compliance, financial news outlet FinanceFeeds reported. The GENIUS Act’s requirements cover reserves, redemptions, capital, liquidity, custody, risk management and sanctions compliance for permitted stablecoin issuers.
