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    Treasury's Proposed Stablecoin Rule: Comments Are Due Oct. 19

    Published October 19, 2026

    Treasury wants comments by Oct. 19 on a proposed rule for who may issue and sell stablecoins in the U.S. See what it says and what is still open.

    Treasury's Proposed Stablecoin Rule: Comments Are Due Oct. 19

    The U.S. Treasury Department is asking the public to comment on a proposed rule about who may issue and sell stablecoins to people in the United States. The comment period ends Monday, Oct. 19, 2026.

    This is a proposal. It is not a final rule, and Treasury can change it after it reads the comments.

    What the proposal covers

    The proposal puts section 3 of the GENIUS Act into more detail. The law was enacted on July 18, 2025. Treasury published the proposal in the Federal Register on Aug. 18, 2026, and would add a new Part 1523 to the federal rules.

    It answers two questions. Who counts as having issued a payment stablecoin? And what counts as offering or selling one?

    The Act describes a payment stablecoin by two features. It is, or is designed to be, used to pay or settle. And its issuer must redeem it for a fixed amount of money.

    The two limits in the law

    The first limit is on issuing. Only a permitted payment stablecoin issuer may issue a payment stablecoin in the United States. The Act sets penalties for people who knowingly take part in an unlawful issuance: up to $1 million per violation and up to five years in prison.

    The second limit is on selling. Starting July 18, 2028, a digital asset service provider, such as an exchange or a custodian, may not offer or sell a payment stablecoin to a person in the United States unless a permitted issuer issued it.

    The Act says the section 3 limits do not apply to a foreign issuer that meets the criteria in section 18(a). Those criteria include a Treasury finding that the issuer's home country has comparable rules, and registration with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. A separate limit on offering or selling coins from foreign issuers starts on the Act's effective date, not in 2028.

    When is a stablecoin "issued"?

    The Act does not define "issue." Treasury proposes this meaning: the issuer's first transfer of the coin, directly or indirectly, that gives or will give someone other than the issuer the right to use or transfer the coin, or to have it redeemed or bought back. Crediting an account counts as a transfer.

    Treasury gives several examples of what that means in practice:

    • A coin that is created but still held in the issuer's own treasury has not been issued yet.
    • A coin created directly into a customer's wallet has been issued.
    • A coin that cannot be redeemed for six months still counts as issued during that wait, if the issuer must redeem it later.
    • A coin the issuer buys back and sends out again counts as a new issuance.

    What counts as offering or selling

    The proposed rule lists examples of an offer or sale by a digital asset service provider to people in the United States. They include directly soliciting U.S. persons, advertising a stablecoin as available to U.S. persons, and advising people how to get around location checks or restrictions.

    Who else could be pulled in

    Treasury lists three examples of knowingly taking part in an unlawful issuance. The list is not complete.

    • Taking on a duty to redeem the coin, including a backup duty on the issuer's behalf.
    • Working with the issuer on key steps, such as finding customers or creating the coins. Treasury says a company that lends its brand in a white-label arrangement could fall here.
    • Acting as a market maker for newly issued coins, handing them out to buyers, or otherwise making them available for secondary-market trading.

    These examples apply to coins issued in violation of the issuance limit, and the facts matter. Treasury says it expects the third example could cover a digital asset service provider, such as an exchange, that makes an initial listing of an unregistered stablecoin shortly after issuance. It says it generally does not intend to cover someone who buys a smaller amount for personal use, or trading that has no close time link to the issuance.

    Under Treasury's proposed reading, the result depends on the facts, so a listing alone does not automatically make an exchange liable for the issuance. The criminal penalties apply to knowing participation. Separately, trading unregistered stablecoins at any time may still raise the limits on offers and sales.

    Three narrow exemptions in the Act

    Section 3(h) of the Act exempts three situations:

    • A direct transfer between two individuals, each acting on their own behalf and for their own lawful purposes, with no intermediary.
    • An individual's receipt of coins between an account they own in the United States and an account they own abroad, when both are offered by the same parent company.
    • A transaction through a software or hardware wallet that helps the individual hold their own coins.

    These exemptions are narrow. They do not cover every peer-to-peer transfer or every use of a wallet.

    Questions Treasury is asking

    The notice asks the public many direct questions. Three stand out:

    • Should foreign issuers follow a model like Regulation S, the securities rule for offerings made outside the United States?
    • Should a token that can be redeemed only for credit union shares count as a payment stablecoin?
    • Should any issuance to a person in the United States be unlawful, no matter how careful the issuer was?

    What to know

    • The rule is a proposal. Treasury has not issued a final rule.
    • July 18, 2028 is the date in the Act for the limit on digital asset service providers offering or selling a payment stablecoin in the United States (section 3(b)(1)). It does not come from the proposal.
    • The proposal is aimed at issuers and the businesses that help issue or sell stablecoins.
    • Anyone can submit a comment on Regulations.gov on or before Oct. 19.

    Sources

    Disclosure: This article summarizes a proposed federal rule from Treasury's Federal Register notice and the linked sections of the Act. It does not cover every provision, and the proposal can change before any final rule. The illustration is AI-generated and is not a photo of a real event. This article is not financial, legal, or investment advice. AI-assisted research and writing. Cited sources, not AI alone, support the claims.