TLDR
- US regulators failed to finalize stablecoin rules by the GENIUS Act’s one-year deadline on July 18, 2026
- Ten proposed rules were issued but none were finalized by the deadline
- The missed deadline does not change the law’s effective date of January 18, 2027
- Key agencies involved include the OCC, FDIC, Federal Reserve, NCUA and Treasury Department
- Anchorage Digital used the anniversary to push Congress to also pass the CLARITY Act
The US government missed a key deadline to finalize rules for the country’s new stablecoin law. One year after President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, no implementing regulations have been completed.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸U.S. regulators missed the GENIUS Act's one-year deadline to finalize stablecoin rules
The law still takes effect January 18, 2027 regardless, leaving issuers preparing around rules that could still change. pic.twitter.com/J8ENG4trht
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) July 19, 2026
The GENIUS Act was signed on July 18, 2025. It created the first federal framework for payment stablecoins in the United States, covering reserves, redemption, disclosures, licensing and oversight requirements.
Section 13 of the law required key regulators to finish their rules within one year. That deadline passed on Saturday without any final rules in place.
The agencies involved include the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve, the National Credit Union Administration and the Treasury Department. All issued proposed rules, but none finalized them.
What Rules Are Still Pending
In total, ten notices of proposed rulemaking were issued over the past year. Treasury issued the most, with four proposals covering implementation, foreign issuer registration and anti-money laundering compliance.
The OCC proposed rules for nationally chartered payment stablecoin issuers. The FDIC proposed prudential standards covering reserves, capital and redemption. The NCUA proposed licensing and operational rules for federally insured credit unions.
Five agencies jointly proposed a customer identification rule. Comments on that proposal remain open until August 21. A separate FDIC anti-money laundering proposal is open for comments until August 4.
That means some rules will not be finalized until well after the deadline.
Industry Feedback Still Being Processed
Agencies also received extensive feedback that must be reviewed before rules can be finalized. BlackRock urged the OCC to drop a possible 20% cap on tokenized reserve assets and to allow certain Treasury ETFs to qualify as reserves.
State-level questions are also unresolved. A bipartisan group of senators urged Treasury to clarify how states can maintain their oversight roles. New York’s Department of Financial Services has proposed its own framework aligned with the GENIUS Act, but may need to revise it once federal rules are finalized.
What Happens Next
Missing the deadline does not invalidate the GENIUS Act or push back its effective date. The law takes effect on January 18, 2027, or 120 days after final rules are issued, whichever comes first.
Any rules finalized after September 20 would no longer be able to move that date earlier. That leaves a narrow window for regulators.
Federally chartered crypto bank Anchorage Digital used the one-year anniversary to call on Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, which would extend regulatory frameworks to the broader digital asset market. The CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee in May, though its passage in 2026 is uncertain. Galaxy Digital put the odds at 50% in June.
For now, stablecoin issuers are preparing based on proposed rules that could still change.
