U.S. FDIC Chief Says First GENIUS Act Regulations Heading for Proposal This Month

The acting chief of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the banking regulator expects to start proposing rules for stablecoin issuers before the close of December, according to testimony Travis Hill is preparing to deliver Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee.

First up on the regulator's agenda for implementing the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act: issuing a proposal for how the agency will handle issuers that apply for federal oversight.

"The FDIC has begun work to promulgate rules to implement the GENIUS Act; we expect to issue a proposed rule to establish our application framework later this month and a proposed rule to implement the GENIUS Act’s prudential requirements for FDIC-supervised payment stablecoin issuers early next year," according to Hill's prepared testimony.

The GENIUS Act contemplates an array of federal and state entities taking part in the supervision of the stablecoin sector. After figuring out the application process, the FDIC, which regulates deposit insurance and oversees thousands of banks, has to write rules for capital requirements for the regulated banks that want to issue stablecoins. It's also responsible for liquidity standards and for regulating the quality of reserves issuers set aside.

A federal agency working on such rules must make a proposal that's open to public comments for a period of time, usually lasting months. Once the comments are reviewed, the regulator can then issue a final version in which the new system is generally set up to go into effect over a long period of time.

Other agencies, including the Department of the Treasury, have also been working on their portions of GENIUS Act duties.

Hill also touched on other regulatory priorities in his testimony. In light of recommendations in a report from the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets earlier this year, the FDIC is also "currently developing guidance to provide additional clarity with respect to the regulatory status of tokenized deposits," Hill said.

The House hearing on Tuesday will also receive testimony from other bank and credit union regulators, including the Federal Reserve. In the past couple of years, crypto has been a common topic of discussion whenever congressional panels have financial regulators before them.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said the central bank was working "to develop capital, liquidity, and diversification regulations for stablecoin issuers as required by the GENIUS Act" in her own prepared testimony.