The US Treasury has proposed rules under the GENIUS Act that would allow exchanges and digital-asset service providers to offer foreign-issued payment stablecoins, provided they can demonstrate they conducted reasonable due diligence on the issuer's ability to comply with lawful US orders such as token freezes or seizures.
Under the proposal, platforms could rely on a foreign issuer's representation that it has the technology and intent to comply with lawful orders and reciprocal arrangements only after performing adequate diligence. Reliance would be prohibited if the platform knows or should know the representation is false or the issuer cannot comply.
Due Diligence Requirements
Treasury specified that minimum diligence should confirm the issuer is not subject to public GENIUS Act prohibitions on secondary trading. However, this check alone would be insufficient; platforms must also evaluate all reasonably available information about the issuer.
The proposal does not identify specific qualifying tokens or determine whether named stablecoins such as USDT can remain available in the US market.
Implementation Timeline
The Treasury expects the Act's general regime to take effect on January 18, 2027, unless implementing rules trigger an earlier date. A stricter offering limit would begin July 18, 2028.
From that later date, covered providers could generally offer payment stablecoins to US customers only from permitted US issuers or foreign issuers meeting Section 18 requirements. Qualifying foreign issuers would need supervision under a comparable regime, registration with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and sufficient reserves at a US financial institution for customer liquidity.
Exemptions and Open Questions
The proposal is not a blanket ban on holding or transferring foreign stablecoins. Exemptions include lawful direct transfers between individuals, certain same-parent account transfers, and transactions through personal custody wallets.
Treasury is requesting comment on what constitutes adequate platform diligence, including whether final rules should require written issuer representations, record retention, smart-contract review, or verification of freeze and burn functions. Comments on the Federal Register proposal close October 19, 2026.
Until Treasury finalizes standards and regulators make issuer-specific decisions, US availability will depend on compliance categories and evidence rather than a published approved-issuer list.
