The next major chapter for U.S. digital-asset regulation is about to begin, and this time the focus isn’t on Bitcoin or securities disputes — it’s on turning stablecoin issuers into institutions that operate under federal banking-style supervision.
Key Takeaways:
FDIC is preparing the first approval pathway for federally supervised stablecoin issuers.
The proposal will trigger a multi-month public comment and phased rollout.
Other agencies — including the Fed and CFTC – are already advancing their own GENIUS Act mandates.
According to officials familiar with the matter, the FDIC is finalizing the first application pathway for companies that want to issue stablecoins under the GENIUS Act, a law that was designed to pull dollar-pegged tokens into the core of the U.S. financial system rather than leave them in regulatory limbo.
Instead of debating whether stablecoins are commodities, securities, or payments instruments, Washington’s plan is to regulate them like a new class of financial institutions.
What the First Rule Will Actually Do
Rather than starting with capital requirements or technical safeguards, the FDIC’s opening move will focus on who is even allowed to become a federally supervised issuer. That proposal — expected before the end of the month — will outline the qualification criteria and the approval process, and will be handed to the House Financial Services Committee as the entry point for formal review.
A key feature of the rollout is timing: the rule is structured so the industry can reshuffle operations gradually. The comment period will stretch for months, and the final onboarding of issuers will be phased, not immediate.
The Broader GENIUS Act Machinery Is Already in Motion
While the FDIC prepares the first gatekeeping mechanism, other regulators are working on their pieces of the puzzle:
• The Federal Reserve is drafting conditions tied to capital strength and asset diversification for stablecoin businesses.
• The CFTC has already launched a program that allows stablecoins to be used as tokenized collateral in derivatives markets.
• The U.S. Treasury kicked off a public consultation earlier this year focused on supervision of dollar-linked tokens across state and federal jurisdictions.
The structure of the GENIUS Act intentionally divides responsibilities, meaning no single regulator controls the entire space — an attempt to prevent the kind of jurisdictional battles that slowed crypto policy for years.
Tokenized Deposits Are Next on the Radar
The FDIC isn’t limiting its digital-asset work to stablecoins. A separate track is being developed for tokenized bank deposits, a category that banks and fintechs have tiptoed around without regulatory clarity. The effort traces back to recommendations from the President’s Working Group, which argued that tokenized deposits can only scale if they are treated like traditional banking products rather than experimental fintech instruments.
