--- title: "What Is the GENIUS Act? The US Stablecoin Law Explained" term: "GENIUS Act" type: glossary_term canonical: https://www.moonwire.org/insights/glossary/genius-act.html --- # What Is the GENIUS Act? The US Stablecoin Law Explained > The US federal law setting rules for payment stablecoins — who may issue them, what reserves must back them, and how issuers are supervised. It was signed into law on 18 July 2025. The **GENIUS Act** — the *Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act* (S. 1582) — is the first US federal law written specifically for **payment stablecoins**: tokens designed to hold a stable value against the dollar and be used for payments and settlement. The House passed it on 17 July 2025 and it was signed into law the following day. ## What the law does - **Who may issue.** Payment stablecoins offered to US users must come from a permitted issuer — a subsidiary of an insured bank, a federally qualified non-bank issuer, or a state-qualified issuer under a state regime judged comparable to the federal one. - **Reserves.** Issuers must hold reserves backing their outstanding stablecoins at least one-for-one, in high-quality liquid assets such as US dollars, deposits and short-dated US Treasury bills, and publish regular reports on the reserve composition. - **Status of the tokens.** Payment stablecoins that meet the law's requirements are treated as neither securities nor commodities for federal securities and commodities law. - **Holders in insolvency.** Stablecoin holders get priority claims on the reserves if an issuer fails. - **Supervision.** Federal and state regulators share oversight, with rulemaking to fill in the details. ## Timing The law does not take full effect on signing. It becomes effective on the earlier of **18 months after enactment — 18 January 2027** — or 120 days after regulators issue final implementing rules. Through 2026 the implementing rules moved through proposal and public comment: our coverage in [August 2026](/insights/treasury-stablecoin-rules-first-mica-penalty.html) reported the US Treasury proposing rules on when stablecoin issuers need a US licence, with a 60-day comment period, while the January 2027 date held. ## How it relates to other rules The GENIUS Act covers stablecoins only. The broader question of how other crypto-assets are classified and which US regulator oversees their markets is the subject of separate market-structure legislation, most prominently the CLARITY Act. In the EU, the comparable stablecoin rules sit inside [MiCA](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/glossary/mica.md). ## In MoonWire analysis Our [stablecoin hub](/insights/topics/stablecoins.html) and [regulation hub](/insights/topics/crypto-regulation.html) track GENIUS Act rulemaking as it is reported, dated so readers can see what was known when. ## Further reading - [Wikipedia: GENIUS Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GENIUS_Act) ## Where this appears in MoonWire analysis - [Treasury Proposed Stablecoin Rules the Day MiCA Issued Its First Penalty](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/treasury-stablecoin-rules-first-mica-penalty.md) — Aug 29, 2026 - [Sector Rotation - Week of July 14: Stablecoins Took the Lead, and Started the Only Real Argument in Crypto This Week](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/sector-rotation-2026-07-21.md) — Jul 24, 2026 - [Privacy - June 2026: It Won as a Feature and Lost as an Asset](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/privacy-won-as-feature-lost-as-asset.md) — Jul 16, 2026 - [Regulator Tracker — June 16-23: The Week Watchdogs Wrote the Stablecoin Rulebook From Both Ends](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/regulator-tracker-2026-06-23.md) — Jun 23, 2026 - [Week in Review — June 16-23: The Fed Took Cuts Off the Table, and Crypto Changed the Subject](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/week-in-review-2026-06-23.md) — Jun 23, 2026 - [Breaking Brief — Congress Passed a CBDC Ban Through 2030 in a Housing Bill](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/us-cbdc-ban-2030-housing-bill.md) — Jun 19, 2026 --- *MoonWire surfaces and summarizes public crypto news.* **General information only — not financial advice.** MoonWire Ltd. is not licensed by ASIC and holds no AFSL. This content does not consider your objectives, financial situation, or needs, and is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset. *This analysis is generated by artificial intelligence and may be inaccurate, incomplete, or fabricated. Independently verify before acting.* © 2026 MoonWire Ltd. · [Terms](https://www.moonwire.org/legal/TOS) · [Risk Disclosure](https://www.moonwire.org/legal/RISK_DISCLOSURE) · [Privacy Policy](https://www.moonwire.org/legal/PRIVACY_POLICY)