On 17 July 2025, the US House of Representatives passed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins of 2025, or the GENIUS Act of 2025. The bill establishes a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins (i.e., digital assets which an issuer must redeem for a fixed monetary value).
Under the bill, only permitted issuers may issue a payment stablecoin in the United States. Permitted issuers must be a subsidiary of an insured depository institution, a federal-qualified nonbank payment stablecoin issuer, or a state-qualified payment stablecoin issuer, and must be regulated by the appropriate federal or state regulator. Permitted payment stablecoins are not considered "securities," but permitted issuers are subject to the Bank Secrecy Act for anti-money laundering and related purposes.
US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul S. Atkins stated that the bill's passage marks an "important step to spur innovation by providing the crypto industry with clear rules of the road."
Attorneys and policy experts at our firm will be covering the GENIUS Act of 2025 in greater detail during a webinar on Tuesday, 22 July 2025. They will also be discussing the other key pieces of crypto-related legislation: the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (i.e., the Clarity Act) and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. Please register here for this timely event.
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