US Treasury moves forward with GENIUS Act, focusing on illicit finance

The proposed rule would direct payment stablecoin issuers to establish AML/CFT and sanctions compliance programs, and be able to “block, freeze, and reject” certain transactions.

Payment stablecoin issuers in the United States will be required to implement a regime targeting illicit finance under the proposed framework for the GENIUS Act.

In a Wednesday notice, the US Treasury Department said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had issued a joint proposed rule to implement provisions of the GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025. 

The proposal would direct payment stablecoin issuers to establish and maintain an anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) program, maintain a sanctions compliance program, and have the ability to “block, freeze and reject” certain stablecoin transactions. Issuers would be treated as financial institutions for purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

"Bringing stablecoin issuers into full BSA/OFAC compliance effectively turns them into bank-like gatekeepers,” Snir Levi, CEO of blockchain intelligence firm Nominis, told Cointelegraph. “That means significantly more wallet freezes, transaction blocking and asset seizures at scale,” he said.

Treasury’s notice was part of the implementation of the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin payments bill signed into law by US President Donald Trump last year. The legislation provides a framework for stablecoin issuers and is expected to be a boon for crypto markets. It will be effective 18 months after it was signed in July or 120 days after federal authorities issue related regulations.

Related: NYT revives Adam Back theory in latest bid to identify Bitcoin creator

On Tuesday, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued its own proposed rule as part of the agency’s GENIUS Act implementation. The FDIC said stablecoin holders would not be insured under the bill, though reserve deposits for issuers would receive protection.

While federal agencies work on implementation of the GENIUS Act, Congress has effectively been stalled on progress for a bill to establish a digital asset market framework, called the CLARITY Act when it passed the House of Representatives last year.

With the Senate Banking Committee yet to schedule a markup on the bill — a necessary step before a full floor vote in the chamber — crypto and banking representatives have been meeting with White House officials to discuss issues related to stablecoin yield, tokenized equities and ethics.

The White House’s Council of Economic Advisers said on Wednesday that a ban on stablecoin yield in the bill “would do very little to protect bank lending,” claiming that it would impose costs on users.

As of Wednesday, the banking committee had not rescheduled a markup on the CLARITY Act.

Magazine: Your guide to surviving this mini-crypto winter

Source: CoinTelegraph