FinCEN and OFAC issued a joint proposed rule on April 8 that would classify stablecoin issuers as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act. The rule targets permitted payment stablecoin issuers, or PPSIs, and subjects them to the same AML reporting and compliance obligations that apply to traditional banks.
The rule implements provisions of the GENIUS Act, which President Trump signed in July 2025 as the country’s first federal crypto legislation. PPSIs would need to establish AML and countering the financing of terrorism programs, report suspicious activity, build technical capability to block transactions that violate law, and maintain active sanctions compliance regimes under OFAC oversight. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it national security protection that won’t slow American companies.
What changes for the industry: any issuer seeking a federal permit now faces bank-grade compliance infrastructure. The rule also draws a line on who can sidestep the federal framework. Issuers with $10 billion or less in outstanding issuance can opt into state-level oversight, but only if that state regime is substantially similar to the federal one. It’s a threshold Treasury defined in a separate proposed rulemaking on April 1.
The 60-day public comment window opens once the joint rule is published in the Federal Register. That’s two FinCEN/OFAC rulemakings in eight days.
James Okafor