US Banking Groups Urge Slower Implementation of Stablecoin Regulatory Framework

The cryptocurrency sector often finds itself at the forefront of bankers' key regulatory endeavors, and this time, a coalition of bank trade associations has petitioned the US Department of the Treasury to prolong the public consultation period for the implementation of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, enacted last year. In a letter addressed to the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation this week, US bankers have requested that the comment periods for three separate GENIUS Act rule proposals be extended, to a minimum of 60 days after the completion of another rule-making effort at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The OCC's initiative to establish a rule for overseeing stablecoin issuers is crucial to the outcome of other regulations being pursued by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, as well as a related rule-making effort at the FDIC. According to the bankers, all these efforts are 'directly contingent on the OCC's final framework.' The collective endeavors, in addition to regulatory proposals yet to emerge from the Federal Reserve and other agencies, 'represent a body of regulatory work of extraordinary scope and complexity.' The banking organizations, including the American Bankers Association and the Bank Policy Institute, argued that their comments 'will necessarily be more comprehensive, and therefore more useful to the agencies, if we have sufficient time to evaluate the proposed rules together and to assess each against the finalized OCC framework.' The GENIUS Act is scheduled to be in place by 2027, although it is not uncommon for federal agencies to grant extensions for comment periods on complex rules. The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bank industry's request. The same bankers are also involved in a stablecoin-related debate with the crypto industry, which has so far managed to delay the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act for months and potentially jeopardize its chances of becoming law this year.