State regulators have been sidelined in the U.S. Treasury Department’s efforts to implement the new U.S. stablecoin law, according to several senators from both parties who insist that states must have an explicit process to prove that their oversight and standards are on par with those of federal regulators.
The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act to regulate stablecoin issuers is being translated into regulations at several federal financial agencies, including Treasury. But the outreach effort may not have satisfied state regulators trying to advance their own GENIUS-related regulations, according to a Tuesday letter from lawmakers, led by Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis, chairwoman of the Senate Banking Committee’s crypto subcommittee.
“Treasury’s finalized principles for assessing whether state plans are substantially similar to the federal regulatory framework are essential in this process,” according to the letter, also signed by other Republicans and a few Democrats, including Angela Alsobrooks, Catherine Cortez Masto and Kirsten Gillibrand. “The proposed principles were published by Treasury but did not address timelines and procedural requirements related to state certification.”
