GENIUS Act

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.