The U.S. Federal Reserve published a 130-page proposed rule on Thursday that would require stablecoin issuers to establish programs for identifying their customers. The regulation is part of the implementation process for the GENIUS Act, or the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, which became law last year.
The proposed rule aims to extend the Bank Secrecy Act standards that currently apply to financial institutions to the stablecoin industry. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) are also involved in the regulatory process.
Five Fed members voted to approve the proposal. The central bank’s new chair, Kevin Warsh, abstained. Fed Governor Michael Barr supported publishing the proposal, though he also raised concerns over whether the GENIUS Act sufficiently addresses money laundering risks in secondary-market transactions.
Barr said some crypto asset service providers are subject to anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing rules in their home jurisdictions. However, he stressed that malicious actors can still evade these restrictions relatively easily and without detection when conducting digital asset transactions.
GENIUS Act’s One-Year Implementation Timeline
President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law on July 18, 2025, establishing the United States’ first comprehensive federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. The legislation introduced the designation of “permitted payment stablecoin issuer,” or PPSI, and established requirements covering reserve assets, capital adequacy, and regulatory compliance.
Most of the implementing regulations must be completed by July 18, 2026. The law itself will take effect 120 days after that date or no later than January 18, 2027.
The tight timeline has pushed federal regulators to publish a series of proposed rules throughout the year. In February 2026, the OCC released a proposed framework for issuers under its jurisdiction. The FDIC published its first rule on application procedures in December 2025, followed by a second proposal concerning reserve assets and deposit insurance coverage in April 2026.
Also in April, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a joint proposal that would classify stablecoin issuers as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act and subject them to anti-money laundering obligations.
With Thursday’s proposal, the Fed became the last of the four primary federal stablecoin regulators—the Fed, OCC, FDIC, and NCUA—to publish its draft rules. Some banking industry groups had previously asked the Treasury Department to extend comment periods until the OCC finalized its own rule. They argued that three separate GENIUS Act regulations directly depend on the OCC’s framework.
Industry Focus Turns to the July Deadline
The effort to coordinate these regulations signals a process that the crypto and banking industries will follow closely in the coming weeks. Although each proposed rule is undergoing a separate public comment process, the individual parts of the final framework are closely connected. A change to one agency’s reserve or custodial requirements could also affect regulations being developed by other agencies.
The public comment period for the Fed’s proposal is only beginning. As with the proposals issued by other regulators, industry representatives are expected to submit objections and recommendations in the coming period.
For stablecoin issuers and the banks that work with them, the main issue is how these fragmented rules will form a unified framework by July 18, 2026. Time is running short, and the regulators’ final adjustments will largely determine the rules under which the market operates as it enters 2027.
