The US Federal Reserve has reached a critical milestone in digital asset regulation by unveiling two draft proposals aimed at operationalizing the GENIUS Act, enacted in July 2025. These proposals seek to establish a strict prudential framework for stablecoin issuers under direct Fed supervision. By opening these guidelines to a sixty-day public consultation, the institution aims to translate legislative principles into concrete technical obligations, signaling a clear intent to integrate these tokens into the traditional financial system as secure payment instruments.
The core of the framework relies on a full-backing requirement. Issuers will be required to maintain reserves composed exclusively of highly liquid assets, such as US Treasury bills, to ensure constant parity with the dollar, even during market turbulence. Concurrently, the Fed is imposing specific capital requirements. Unlike the reserves held for token holders, this capital is designed as a safety buffer to absorb operational risks, including cybersecurity breaches, fraud, or failures by custodial service providers.
Beyond financial stability, the regulator is defining market access modalities for banking institutions. The second part of the proposal introduces a dedicated approval process, requiring banks wishing to issue stablecoins through a subsidiary to submit rigorous filings detailing their strategy and financial health. This path, distinct from standard banking authorizations, clarifies permissible activities and structures entry conditions for financial institutions, while also providing mechanisms for appeal in the event of a dispute with the oversight authority.
Although the Board of Governors has unanimously validated these proposals, adjustments remain under debate. Michael Barr, a member of the Board, emphasized the need for greater precision regarding interest rate and exchange rate risks, as well as the effectiveness of anti-money laundering policies. He is particularly concerned that certain oversight thresholds, deemed too restrictive, could limit the Fed's ability to act against risks perceived as non-systemic. These reservations reflect the complexity of the challenge: defining robust safeguards without stifling innovation in a rapidly evolving sector.
Ultimately, these measures reshape the architecture of the stablecoin market in the United States, clearly distinguishing them from decentralized finance to anchor them in a regulated and supervised sphere. The major challenge now lies in the final calibration of capital requirements and the strict definition of eligible reserve assets. By imposing banking standards on issuers, the Fed seeks to prevent any risk of digital bank runs, confirming that the stablecoin is now viewed as an essential and inseparable component of the future US monetary infrastructure.