On April 8, 2026, FinCEN and the OFAC issued a joint proposed rule to implement provisions of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) in countering illicit finance. The GENIUS Act directs the Treasury to issue regulations that would treat permitted payment stablecoin issuers (PPSIs) as financial institutions for purposes of the BSA and impose anti-money laundering obligations on PPSIs.
The proposed rule would require PPSIs to:
Establish and maintain an anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) program;
Report suspicious activity;
Have the technical capabilities, policies, and procedures to block, freeze, and reject specific or impermissible transactions that violate Federal or State laws, rules, or regulations;
Have the technical capabilities to comply, and do comply, with the terms of any lawful order; and
Maintain an effective sanctions compliance program.
FinCEN and the OFAC are accepting comments on the proposed rule until June 9, 2026.
The Treasury’s press release can be found here.
The Federal Register Notice can be found here.
A Fact Sheet on the proposed rule can be found here.