The GENIUS Act: what non-US businesses need to know
The GENIUS Act regulates stablecoin issuers and the platforms that sell stablecoins to people in the US. Holding or receiving them for your own business doesn't by itself bring you under it. The dates that matter are 18 January 2027, when it takes effect, and 18 July 2028, when US platforms must stop offering stablecoins from issuers that haven't qualified.
By Pavel Skalin, Founder & CEO, Align · Reviewed by the Align compliance team
Updated · 4 min read
The law in one paragraph
The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, the GENIUS Act, became US law on 18 July 2025. It creates a federal framework for payment stablecoins: who may issue them in the US, what reserves must back them, how issuers are supervised, and which stablecoins US platforms may offer. It takes effect on the earlier of 18 January 2027 or 120 days after regulators publish final rules. No final rules were issued by 20 September 2026, so the date is 18 January 2027.
Key dates
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 18 July 2025 | Act signed into law |
| Late 2025 to September 2026 | Proposed rules from the federal banking agencies, Treasury, and FinCEN with OFAC |
| 18 January 2027 | The Act takes effect; conditions start to apply to foreign-issued stablecoins sold through US service providers |
| 18 July 2028 | US digital asset service providers may only offer or sell payment stablecoins from permitted or qualifying foreign issuers |
What the Act requires of issuers
- Who can issue. Only a "permitted payment stablecoin issuer" may issue in the US: a subsidiary of an insured depository institution, a federal qualified issuer, or a state qualified issuer. All must be formed in the US.
- Reserves. At least one dollar of reserves for every dollar of stablecoin, held in cash, deposits at insured banks, Treasury bills, notes or bonds with 93 days or less to maturity, overnight repos and reverse repos backed by Treasuries, government money market funds, or tokenized forms of these.
- Reporting. Issuers publish their reserve composition monthly. A registered public accounting firm examines the report, and the chief executive and chief financial officer certify it.
- No interest. Issuers can't pay holders "any form of interest or yield" solely for holding, using or retaining the stablecoin.
- Compliance. Issuers are treated as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act, and must be able to seize, freeze, burn or block transfers of their tokens when lawfully ordered.
Foreign issuers
A stablecoin issued outside the US can be offered in the US if its issuer qualifies as a foreign issuer. The conditions include a Treasury finding that the home country's regime is comparable, registration with and supervision by the OCC, reserves held in US institutions sufficient for US customers' liquidity, and the ability to comply with lawful orders. As of August 2026, Treasury hadn't proposed how it will make those comparability findings.
What it means for a business outside the US
Holding and receiving. The Act doesn't regulate you for holding USDT or USDC for your own business, or for receiving them from counterparties outside the US. That changes if you start offering or selling stablecoins to people in the US as a business.
Paying or selling to US counterparties. Expect US banks, exchanges and payment firms to prefer stablecoins from permitted issuers, and to ask more questions about others as 2028 approaches. Circle received OCC approval for a national trust bank in July 2026, starting with custody, and Tether launched USAT, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, for the US market in January 2026.
Using US platforms. If you buy, sell or hold stablecoins through a US platform, from 18 July 2028 it can only offer those that qualify. If USDT doesn't qualify by then, US platforms will have to stop offering it to US customers unless a safe harbor applies.
Yield products. Rewards paid by platforms rather than issuers are the open question. Watch the final OCC rule.
Freezes. Every permitted issuer must be able to freeze tokens on lawful orders. Major issuers already do: Tether says it has frozen more than $4.4 billion in total. Screen your counterparties' wallets.
What isn't settled yet
- The final rules from the OCC, FDIC, Federal Reserve and Treasury. The Federal Reserve proposed its reserve and capital rules in late September 2026, with comments due by 30 November.
- Treasury's process for deciding whether a foreign regime is comparable, which decides USDT's position in the US.
- How far the ban on interest reaches third-party rewards programs.
How this works with Align
Align doesn't issue stablecoins. We support USDC, USDT and EURC, and we'll update this guide as final rules are published.
Sources
- GovInfo, Public Law 119-27 (GENIUS Act text)
- Skadden, US establishes first federal regulatory framework for stablecoins (July 2025)
- Freshfields, Treasury proposes GENIUS Act gatekeeping rules (August 2026)
- Federal Register, Treasury proposed rule on issuance, offer and sale (18 August 2026)
- OCC, Bulletin 2026-3
- Federal Register, FDIC proposed rule and FinCEN and OFAC proposed rule (April 2026)
- Troutman Pepper, Treasury proposes rules to implement section 3 (August 2026)
- Ashurst Perkins Coie, Stablecoin interest, yield and rewards (March 2026)
- TokenPost, OCC final rule coming soon (October 2026)
- PYMNTS, Fed proposes stablecoin reserve and capital rules under GENIUS Act (September 2026)
- Tether, Launch of USAT (January 2026)
- Business Wire, Circle receives final OCC approval for national trust bank (July 2026)
Common questions
- Does the GENIUS Act apply to my company if we only hold USDT or USDC?
- Not directly, unless your company offers or sells stablecoins to people in the US as a business, which can make it a digital asset service provider under the Act. The Act regulates issuers of payment stablecoins and the platforms that offer or sell them in the US. It exempts direct transfers between individuals acting on their own behalf and transactions through self-custody wallets. It affects you through your US counterparties, banks and platforms.
- Will USDT be banned in the US?
- The Act doesn't ban holding it. From 18 July 2028, US digital asset service providers may not offer or sell a payment stablecoin unless its issuer is permitted under the Act or qualifies as a foreign issuer. Treasury's proposed rules add safe harbors, for example where a platform reasonably believes its customer is outside the US. Whether Tether qualifies isn't decided: when Treasury published those proposals in August 2026, it hadn't yet proposed how it will judge foreign regimes. Tether launched a separate US stablecoin, USAT, in January 2026.
- Can stablecoins still pay interest?
- Issuers can't. The Act bars them from paying holders any form of interest or yield solely for holding, using or retaining the stablecoin. Whether exchanges and other third parties can pay rewards is contested, and the OCC has proposed treating some arrangements as a violation by the issuer.
- When will the final rules be published?
- As of mid-October 2026, none of the main rules was final. The OCC's head said on 15 October 2026 that its final rule was coming in the very near term. Because no final rules were issued by 20 September 2026, 120 days before that date, the Act takes effect on 18 January 2027.
This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and providers' terms change; check the sources linked above and take advice on your own situation.
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