The GENIUS Act Gets Down to Business: Treasury Drops 87-Page Stablecoin Rulemaking

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has formally begun implementing the GENIUS Act, releasing its first notice of proposed rulemaking and opening a 60-day public comment period. Because nothing says "we take your comments seriously" quite like an 87-page document that nobody outside of legal Twitter will read in full.

The 87-page proposal outlines how the Treasury will determine whether state-level stablecoin regulatory regimes are "substantially similar" to the federal framework—a key threshold allowing smaller issuers to remain under state supervision. Think of it as the regulatory equivalent of "close enough" — as long as your state's rules don't look like they were drafted on the back of a napkin during a crypto conference happy hour.

Under the GENIUS Act, stablecoin issuers with less than $10 billion in outstanding supply can opt for state-level regulation, provided those regimes meet or exceed federal standards. It's essentially the regulatory version of staying on your parents' health insurance: you're technically independent, but someone's still keeping tabs on whether you're eating your vegetables.

The proposed rule establishes broad principles to guide that determination, while leaving states flexibility in areas like licensing, supervision, and enforcement. Because nothing unites American federalism like the eternal question of whether a Wyoming stablecoin should be regulated the same as a New York one.

According to the document, the Treasury draws a clear distinction between "uniform requirements" — such as reserve backing and anti-money laundering compliance — and "state-calibrated requirements," where local regulators retain discretion, including capital and risk management standards. Translation: the boring stuff is federally mandated, but regulators get to play mad libs with the rest.

Notably, the proposal anchors the federal benchmark largely to rules and interpretations issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, signaling its central role in overseeing nonbank stablecoin issuers that transition to federal supervision after crossing the $10 billion threshold. The OCC: because when your stablecoin gets too big to fail, you want someone with a mahogany desk and a serious expression in charge.

The rule also clarifies that state frameworks may exceed federal requirements, so long as they do not conflict with federal law or undermine overall comparability. States can absolutely be more strict — think of it as adding extra security features to your apartment, just don't knock out the load-bearing walls.

State regimes would also be barred from weakening core disclosure standards, with issuers required to publish reserve composition reports at least monthly—matching federal frequency requirements. Naming