On April 1, 2026, the Treasury issued a proposed rule seeking public comment related to its implementation of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. The proposed rule establishes broad-based principles for determining when a State-level regulatory regime is substantially similar to the Federal regulatory framework.
The GENIUS Act regulates the issuance of payment stablecoins in the United States, requiring only permitted issuers to operate under a federal framework, while allowing certain state issuers with limited total issuance to opt for state regulation if it aligns with federal standards. The Act also mandates the Treasury to establish principles for determining the similarity of state regulatory regimes.
The Treasury’s proposal reflect that the Act requires the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee to determine that States “meet or exceed” the core prudential standards and requirements described in section 4(a) of the Act, while providing more flexibility for States to design their own regimes for other topics covered by the Act, such as applications, licensing, supervision, and enforcement.
Treasury’s announcement can be found here.
The proposed rule can be found here.