US Banking Groups Advocate for Delay in Implementing Stablecoin Regulatory Act

The cryptocurrency sector frequently encounters bankers participating in its primary regulatory endeavors. This time, a coalition of bank trade associations has requested the US Department of the Treasury to extend the timeframe for public input on the implementation of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, enacted last year. In a letter sent to the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation this week, US bankers have requested extended comment periods for three different GENIUS Act rule proposals, to commence at least 60 days after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) concludes its rulemaking effort. The OCC's push to implement its rule for policing stablecoin issuers significantly impacts 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 that the collective efforts, along with regulatory proposals that have not yet emerged 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, stated 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 evaluate each against the finalized OCC framework.' The GENIUS Act is scheduled to be in place by 2027, although it's not uncommon for federal agencies to grant extensions of 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.