The cryptocurrency sector is witnessing a significant involvement of bankers in its key regulatory endeavors. Recently, a coalition of bank trade associations has appealed to the US Department of the Treasury to extend 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 Corp, US bankers are requesting an extension of the comment periods for three separate GENIUS Act rule proposals, seeking a minimum of 60 days after the completion of another rulemaking effort by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC's initiative to implement its rule for overseeing stablecoin issuers has significant implications for the outcome of other rules being pursued by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as well as a related rulemaking at the FDIC.
The bankers argue that all these efforts are directly contingent on the OCC's final framework and represent a complex body of regulatory work. The banking organizations, including the American Bankers Association and the Bank Policy Institute, emphasize that having sufficient time to evaluate the proposed rules together and against the finalized OCC framework will enable them to provide more comprehensive and useful comments to the agencies.
The GENIUS Act is slated 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 has not immediately responded to a request for comment on the bank industry's request. Meanwhile, the same bankers are engaged in a stablecoin-related debate with the crypto industry, which has already led to a delay in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act and may potentially jeopardize its chances of becoming law this year.