From state-by-state patchwork to a federal option
For years, a US-based stablecoin issuer operated under a fragmented set of state money-transmitter licenses, each with its own capital, bonding, and reserve rules, plus whatever federal banking or securities law happened to apply. The GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act) was signed into law in 2025 and establishes, for the first time, a dedicated federal regulatory framework specifically for payment stablecoins. At a high level it creates a path for issuers to operate under federal oversight rather than assembling licenses state by state, alongside a certification process for state-level regimes that meet equivalent standards.
The practical difference between a federal and a state money-transmitter regime is significant. A state regime means separate compliance obligations, examinations, and reporting in every state where you operate, with real variation in how strict or lenient each state is. A federal regime aims to give issuers one consistent standard and one primary regulator, which matters enormously for an issuer trying to operate a stablecoin at national or even global scale, since inconsistent state rules had been a genuine barrier to larger, more conservative institutions entering the market.