FDIC approves proposed BSA rule for stablecoins

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s board approved a proposed rule on May 22 that would set Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions compliance standards for a narrow slice of the stablecoin market: permitted payment stablecoin issuers supervised by the FDIC. The measure is one of several rulemakings tied to the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law that assigns implementation work across banking and Treasury agencies. The FDIC said the proposal would apply to issuers that fall under its jurisdiction, including certain subsidiaries of insured state nonmember banks and state savings associations. The agency said comments will be accepted for 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register. ### Which stablecoin firms does this proposal actually cover? The FDIC said the rule covers “FDIC-supervised permitted payment stablecoin issuers,” or PPSIs, not the entire stablecoin sector. Under the agency’s description, the FDIC is the primary federal regulator for PPSIs that are subsidiaries of insured state nonmember banks and state savings associations approved by the agency to issue payment stablecoins. (fdic.gov) The April 10 FDIC proposal implementing broader GENIUS Act requirements shows the same jurisdictional boundary in practice. That earlier rulemaking addressed standards for FDIC-supervised PPSIs and insured depository institutions, alongside questions such as reserve assets, redemption, capital, risk management and deposit insurance treatment. (fdic.gov) ### What would these issuers have to do under the new rule? The May 22 proposal would require FDIC-supervised PPSIs to comply with anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism rules, sanctions obligations and reporting requirements already established through Treasury authorities, the FDIC said. The agency specifically pointed to requirements administered by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. (federalregister.gov) The FDIC also said the proposal would establish supervision and enforcement provisions for PPSI AML/CFT programs and align them with FinCEN requirements. In practice, that means the banking agency is proposing how it would examine and enforce those obligations for the firms it oversees, rather than creating a separate compliance universe for stablecoin issuers. That reading is based on the text of the proposal and the FDIC press release. (fdic.gov) ### How does this fit with Treasury’s role under the GENIUS Act? The Treasury Department said on April 8 that FinCEN and OFAC had issued a joint proposed rule to implement the GENIUS Act’s illicit-finance provisions. Treasury said the law directs it to treat permitted payment stablecoin issuers as financial institutions for Bank Secrecy Act purposes and to impose anti-money laundering obligations on those issuers. (fdic.gov) Treasury also said the law requires PPSIs to maintain an effective sanctions compliance program. The FDIC’s May 22 action appears to be the banking-agency side of that framework for the entities it supervises, while Treasury’s proposal sets the underlying AML and sanctions architecture. That is an inference from the two agencies’ descriptions of their respective proposals. (home.treasury.gov) ### Is this the first GENIUS Act rulemaking from the FDIC? The FDIC approved another proposed rule on April 7 to implement broader GENIUS Act requirements and standards. That proposal covered reserve assets, redemption, capital, risk management, deposit-insurance treatment for reserve deposits and the treatment of tokenized deposits, according to the agency and the Federal Register notice. (fdic.gov) PYMNTS reported on May 22 that the BSA proposal followed public comments on the earlier GENIUS Act rulemaking and described the new measure as another step in defining compliance expectations for banks and stablecoin activities under FDIC oversight. ### What happens next, and where can comments go? The proposed rule says comments must be submitted under RIN 3064-AG29 and can be filed through the FDIC website, by email to the agency’s comments inbox, by mail or by hand delivery to the FDIC’s Washington headquarters. (fdic.gov) The proposal says comments will be due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register and may be posted publicly. (pymnts.com) The separate April 10 FDIC GENIUS Act proposal remains open for comment until June 9, 2026, according to the Federal Register. That means the agency now has at least two live stablecoin-related rulemakings moving on parallel tracks. (federalregister.gov) (fdic.gov)