On July 18, 2025, President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law. The GENIUS Act, which passed the Senate on June 17, 2025, and the House of Representatives on July 17, 2025, is the first major piece of crypto legislation in the United States.
The GENIUS Act establishes a comprehensive regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, limiting their issuance to “permitted payment stablecoin issuers” (federal or state-qualified entities), that must maintain a 1:1 reserve backing,[1] satisfy public disclosure obligations, and operate under federal or qualifying state regulatory supervision, as described below. The GENIUS Act will take effect on the earlier of (i) Jan. 18, 2027 (18 months after enactment) or (ii) 120 days after the primary federal payment stablecoin regulators issue final rulemaking to implement the GENIUS Act.[2] Once in effect, issuers of payment stablecoins in the United States must abide by the requirements of the GENIUS Act. Digital asset service providers such as cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians and wallet providers, and payment apps will have a three-year transition period to comply with the GENIUS Act. As of July 18, 2028, these providers will be required to restrict their activities to only payment stablecoins that have been issued by an issuer approved under the GENIUS Act.
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[1] “One-to-one” backing refers to a situation where each unit of a liability is matched one-to-one by a corresponding asset of equal value held in reserve.
[2] Each primary federal payment stablecoin regulator, the Secretary of the Treasury, and each state payment stablecoin regulator are required to promulgate rulemaking to implement the provisions of the GENIUS Act through a notice-and-comment rulemaking no later than one year after the date of enactment of the GENIUS Act.