The US Treasury has proposed rules under the GENIUS Act that would let exchanges keep offering foreign-issued stablecoins, but only if platforms can show they did reasonable due diligence on each issuer's promise to comply with lawful US orders. The proposal sets no approved list and does not decide the fate of any named token; comments close Oct. 19, 2026.
Treasury's proposed rule would shift the access decision for foreign payment stablecoins onto the exchanges and other digital-asset platforms that list, sell or custody them. A provider could rely on a foreign issuer's promise to comply with lawful orders, such as freezing or seizing tokens, only after conducting reasonable due diligence, and reliance would be barred once the platform knows or should know that promise is false.
Diligence, not a published list
Treasury says platforms must at minimum confirm an issuer is not subject to a public GENIUS Act prohibition on secondary trading, but that check alone would not be enough. Providers would also need to weigh all reasonably available information about the issuer. The proposal does not name qualifying tokens and does not decide whether USDT or any other stablecoin can keep operating in the US.
Two deadlines set the timeline
The general GENIUS Act regime is expected to take effect on Jan. 18, 2027, unless final rules trigger an earlier date. A stricter offering limit follows on July 18, 2028, after which a covered provider could sell a payment stablecoin to a US customer only if it comes from a permitted US issuer or a foreign issuer meeting Section 18 requirements.
Those requirements include supervision Treasury finds comparable, registration with the Comptroller of the Currency, and sufficient reserves at a US financial institution unless a reciprocal arrangement says otherwise. A qualifying foreign issuer's jurisdiction also cannot sit under comprehensive US sanctions or a primary money-laundering designation.
Even so, meeting the Section 18 test would not exempt an issuer from the platform's own lawful-order diligence — the two checks apply side by side. The rule carves out exemptions for direct peer-to-peer transfers without an intermediary, certain transfers between an individual's US and foreign accounts held at the same firm, and transactions through self-custody wallets.
What counts as adequate diligence is still open. Treasury is asking whether the final rule should require written or regularly updated issuer representations, record retention, smart-contract review, or checks of an issuer's freeze, seize and burn functions. Until those questions are resolved, US access to foreign stablecoins will hinge on compliance evidence rather than an approved list.
Source: CryptoSlate
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