What happened
On 24 September 2026 the Federal Reserve Board requested comment on two proposed rules implementing the GENIUS Act (18 July 2025) for Board-supervised payment stablecoin issuers: (1) full backing of stablecoins by permissible reserve assets (e.g. short-term Treasuries), standardised capital requirements, risk-management standards, custodian rules, and clarification of the permissibility of stablecoin activities for supervised banks; and (2) a tailored application process for banks issuing payment stablecoins. Notice published in the Federal Register on 29 September 2026 (2026-19860); 60-day comment period.
Why it matters
The proposal sets reserve, capital, and risk-management standards for the tokenised-payments layer increasingly integrated with AI-driven financial infrastructure, and is a landmark US federal rulemaking that AI deployers' payments stacks depend on.
Action needed
Stablecoin issuers and Fed-supervised banks should review the two NPRMs and submit comments within 60 days of FR publication (by ~28 November 2026); entities building AI payments services on stablecoin rails should track final capital/reserve requirements.