Cryptocurrency Policy Daily Observation: The Federal Reserve Implements the GENIUS Act Regulatory Framework, Establishing a Dual-Track System for Full U.S. Treasury Reserve for Stablecoins and Exclusive Approval for Bank Issuance

Breaking the Ice on Regulations: The Federal Reserve Initiates the Development of Guidelines for the GENIUS Act

As the federal digital finance bill promoted by the U.S. Congress gradually takes shape, the regulatory framework of the core executing agency is accelerating to fill the gaps.

The Federal Reserve has officially released two proposed regulatory rules targeting Payment Stablecoins to implement the statutory regulatory authority granted by the GENIUS Act. The release of these two rules marks the formal transition of the issuance of payment stablecoins and bank-related cryptocurrency operations within the Federal Reserve's regulatory jurisdiction from the era of enforcement memoranda to a fully standardized and transparent regulatory management phase.

First Rule: 100% High-Quality Asset Reserves and Strict Risk Control Standards

Regarding the safety of underlying reserve assets and asset custody, the Federal Reserve has established extremely strict sovereign-level risk control red lines:

• Full High Liquidity Reserves: The rules propose to mandate that all applicable payment stablecoin issuers must use top-quality liquid assets (HQLA) such as short-term U.S. Treasury securities to provide 100% full reserve support for the issued stablecoins, prohibiting any high-risk commercial paper or illiquid credit assets from being mixed into the reserve pool;

• Unified Measurement and Custody Requirements: Establish a unified net capital, liquidity buffer, and comprehensive risk management mechanism, and introduce clear third-party independent custody rules for reserve assets;

• Clear Scope of Bank Operations: Clearly define the legal boundaries and business licensing standards for commercial banks under Federal Reserve supervision when engaging in stablecoin custody, fund clearing, and related on-chain extension businesses.

Second Rule: Establishing a "Dedicated Approval Channel" for Traditional Banks to Issue Stablecoins

Compared to the previous ambiguous attitude towards traditional banks entering the cryptocurrency business, the second rule provides a highly concrete compliance entry blueprint:

• Exclusive Admission Procedure: The Federal Reserve intends to formally establish a special review process for commercial banks under its supervision to apply for the issuance of payment stablecoins. Applicant institutions must submit detailed business operation plans, capital adequacy proof, and financial information as statutory declaration materials to the Federal Reserve;

• Establishing Proper Legal Procedures: The rules specifically introduce transparent appeal, administrative hearing, and final judicial decision processes, ensuring that banks meeting prudent operation standards have legitimate avenues for relief when their applications are denied or require supplementary rectification, addressing previous market pain points of excessive administrative approval discretion and lack of appeal mechanisms.

Federal-Level Regulatory Closed Loop Drives the Era of "Regular Army" for Dollar Stablecoins

Based on the regulatory trends in Washington at the end of September, these two proposed rules from the Federal Reserve represent a significant turning point in the traditional central banking system's implementation of systematic regulations on stablecoins. By establishing short-term U.S. Treasury securities as a statutory hard anchor and incorporating traditional banks into a dedicated approval channel, the Federal Reserve is substantively transforming compliant payment stablecoins into "blockchain-based digital dollar extensions." The related documents will open a 60-day comment window after being published in the Federal Register. With the finalization of the rules, the U.S. may welcome the first batch of compliant payment stablecoins officially issued by Federal Reserve-licensed commercial banks by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

Source: https://bbx.com/ Cryptocurrency Concept Stock Information Database, compiled based on announcements from global listed companies and SEC/TSE disclosure documents from yesterday.