The U.S. Treasury Department on September 30 issued an interim final rule setting out the forms and procedures states must follow to win federal approval to supervise smaller stablecoin issuers, according to the rule published in the Federal Register. The measure took effect immediately, though Treasury will not accept certifications until it completes a Paperwork Reduction Act review, and public comments are due by November 30.
How state certification will work
Under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, a state-qualified payment stablecoin issuer with no more than $10 billion in outstanding tokens can opt for state regulation instead of federal oversight. To do so, the state regulator must submit a certification to the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee, which is chaired by the Treasury Secretary and includes the Federal Reserve Chair and the FDIC Chairman, attesting that the state regime is substantially similar to the federal framework. The committee then approves or denies the regime, a decision that determines whether the state’s issuers can keep operating under state law rather than seeking a federal license.
What states must file
The rule prescribes the form of the attestation. An initial certification must include a signed attestation, a narrative explaining how the state regime meets Treasury’s substantial-similarity principles, and supporting statutes and regulations. States must recertify annually, and an approval is suspended if the recertification is not filed on time. The statute sets a one-year deadline for initial certifications, and the rule spells out procedures for denial, a two-year cure period, resubmission, and appeal. Treasury issued the rule on behalf of the committee, which sits alongside the Fed, the FDIC, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as the primary federal payment stablecoin regulators.
Broader GENIUS Act rollout
The certification framework is the latest piece of the GENIUS Act’s implementation, which has been underway since the law was enacted in July 2025. Treasury has separately opened its core stablecoin rule to public comment through its earlier GENIUS Act rulemaking, and the Federal Reserve has proposed its own stablecoin rules under the Act. Together the measures map out how payment stablecoin issuers will be licensed and supervised as the market matures.
