Stablecoin issuers face bank-style customer ID checks under GENIUS Act

Five US agencies propose stablecoin customer ID rules

The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) joined four federal banking and credit union regulators to propose the first customer identification standards for permitted payment stablecoin issuers, known as PPSIs. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) approved the notice on 18 June 2026. The plan carries out anti-money-laundering provisions in the GENIUS Act, the federal stablecoin law enacted on 18 July 2025. That law treats stablecoin issuers as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

Issuers must verify customers like banks do

Under the proposal, PPSIs would follow know-your-customer (KYC) practices comparable to those that banks, broker-dealers, and mutual funds already meet. Each issuer would build a written identification program sized to its own business and risk. Firms would collect standard identifying data from customers, including name, date of birth, address, and a government identification number. They would also screen customers against government lists of known or suspected terrorists and terrorist organizations.

Direct customers face checks, secondary holders do not

The rule limits identification duties to primary market participants. These are customers who open accounts or receive digital asset services directly from an issuer. People who obtain stablecoins through secondary markets, such as wallet-to-wallet transfers, fall outside the requirement. The agencies chose a risk-based approach instead of a single fixed standard for every firm.

"Rather than prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach … a PPSI's customer identification program should address the types of accounts it intends to maintain", 18 June 2026. — Joint federal agency proposal

Bank subsidiaries may share parent compliance programs

The proposal gives issuers some flexibility on how they meet the standard. A PPSI that operates as a subsidiary of an insured bank may coordinate with its parent's identification program, provided the combined program covers both entities' risks. An issuer may also rely on another regulated financial institution's procedures when that reliance is reasonable and backed by a written agreement. The agencies framed these options as a way to avoid duplicate compliance work.

USDC anchors a large stablecoin market

Regulated stablecoins now move billions of dollars each day across crypto markets. USDC traded at $1.00 with a market value near $74.9 billion at the time of publication (NewsFlash, 19 June 2026). Its 24-hour trading volume reached about $15 billion on the same date (NewsFlash, 19 June 2026). Those figures show the transaction scale that issuers must now monitor under the new standard.

Public comment runs for 60 days after publication

The agencies plan to publish the proposal in the Federal Register on 22 June 2026. That step opens a 60-day window for public comment from issuers, banks, and other interested parties. Final standards would follow once the agencies review the responses. The notice adds to a broader 2026 effort to place stablecoin issuers under federal anti-money-laundering rules.

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