Treasury Opens Comment on the Rule That Decides Who May Issue a Dollar Stablecoin

The United States Department of the Treasury has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking under the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin statute Congress passed last year, and opened it for public comment. The proposal is narrow by design. It sets out when a person is treated as issuing a payment stablecoin in the United States and when a token counts as offered or sold to someone in the country.

Those definitions determine how the whole regime functions. From the law's effective date in January 2027, issuing a payment stablecoin domestically without a federal or state license is prohibited. The proposal also addresses foreign issuers, whose tokens digital asset service providers generally could not make available unless the issuer can comply with lawful orders and a reciprocal arrangement exists with its home jurisdiction. Treasury is taking comments for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The numbers show why the distinction matters. Stablecoin supply stands at $307.07 billion, with Tether's USDT at $182.95 billion and Circle's USDC at $71.99 billion, according to DeFiLlama. Tether is the largest issuer and is domiciled outside the United States, so the treatment of foreign tokens determines how much of that supply American venues can legally distribute.

Separately, the OCC granted preliminary conditional approval for World Liberty Trust Company to operate as a national trust bank, which would let the Trump-linked issuer mint and custody its USD1 stablecoin directly instead of relying on a third-party custodian. USD1 circulation stands at $4.02 billion. The charter is not final until preopening conditions are met.