Treasury Opens 60-Day Comment Window as GENIUS Act’s Jan. 18, 2027 Deadline Looms

The US Department of the Treasury on Monday published a notice of proposed rulemaking for the GENIUS Act, opening a 60-day public comment period that will run past the law’s own January 18, 2027 effective date. The stablecoin framework, signed into law in July 2025, was supposed to have final rules in place within 18 months of passage — a deadline that regulators have now missed by weeks.

Under the GENIUS Act’s own timeline, implementing agencies had 120 days from a mid-2026 checkpoint to finalize regulations before the law’s effective date locks in. That 120-day window closed in July 2026 without finished rules from any of the relevant agencies, meaning the framework is now on track to take legal effect on January 18, 2027 even as the underlying regulatory text remains in draft form.

What the proposal actually covers

The Treasury proposal sets out core definitions for what counts as “issuing” a payment stablecoin in the United States and which entities fall under the Act’s jurisdiction. Once GENIUS is in force, an entity generally may not issue a payment stablecoin domestically without an appropriate federal or state license — a licensing gate that is central to the whole framework.

According to the proposal, Treasury drew on existing securities-law concepts as a reference point but stopped short of applying them wholesale, arguing that payment stablecoins are meant to function as a means of payment and cross-border settlement rather than as investment instruments. The department said it views the Act as reflecting Congress’s intent to treat stablecoins as payment tools, distinct from traditional securities regimes.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the move as part of a broader push for speed. “As we work to provide the regulatory certainty businesses need to innovate and grow in America, cement the role of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and keep America the crypto capital of the world,” Bessent said, the department “welcomes input from stakeholders.”

Other agencies are also behind schedule

Treasury is not implementing GENIUS alone. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve Board have each issued their own notices of proposed rules during 2026, but all of them, like Treasury, missed the July deadline to finalize regulations ahead of January’s implementation date.

That leaves stablecoin issuers, banks and state regulators facing a scenario where the law becomes binding before its operational details — licensing procedures, reserve requirements, and jurisdictional boundaries between federal and state oversight — are fully settled. Public comment on Treasury’s specific proposal stays open for 60 days from its publication in the Federal Register, giving industry participants a narrow window to push for changes before the framework hardens into law.

Why it matters for stablecoin issuers

For any company planning to issue a dollar-pegged stablecoin in the US, the practical stakes are concrete: after January 18, 2027, operating without a qualifying federal or state license becomes a legal problem, not a compliance suggestion. Firms that have been building toward US-regulated stablecoin products — including banks exploring charters tied to the Act — now have to plan around a rulebook that may still be in flux when the deadline hits.

Cross-border coordination is also part of the picture. In July, the UK-US Financial Regulatory Working Group met in London to discuss cooperation on stablecoin oversight, underscoring that GENIUS’s effects will extend beyond US borders as global regulators watch how Washington finalizes — or fails to finalize — its own rulebook in time.

Read more: OCC Grants Trump-Backed World Liberty Trust Charter for $4B USD1 Stablecoin

Sources

• cointelegraph.com
• theblock.co
• coindesk.com