The FDIC has moved stablecoin issuance closer to the center of bank-style supervision, approving a proposed rule that would apply prudential standards to FDIC-supervised permitted payment stablecoin issuers and to insured banks involved in related custody activities. The proposal is part of the federal implementation of the GENIUS Act and would reshape how reserves, redemptions, risk management and custodial safeguards are handled inside the U.S. regulated banking perimeter.
What the proposal does not do is blur the line between stablecoins and insured bank deposits. The FDIC explicitly said that deposits held as reserves for a payment stablecoin would not be insured to stablecoin holders on a pass-through basis, while also clarifying that tokenized deposits remain subject to existing deposit-insurance treatment if they meet the statutory definition of a deposit.
A prudential framework built around reserves, redemption and controls
The proposed rule would require issuers to maintain clearly identifiable reserve assets and would subject them to capital and risk-management standards tailored to their size, complexity and risk profile. It also sets out authorized and prohibited activities for payment stablecoin issuers, bringing the business much closer to the supervisory expectations normally associated with regulated banking operations.
Redemption is one of the clearest operational demands in the proposal. The FDIC said payment stablecoin issuers would generally be expected to redeem within two business days, a requirement that turns reserve management and liquidity planning into frontline compliance issues rather than back-office preferences.
Custody rules are becoming just as important as issuance rules
The proposal also extends directly into custody and safekeeping, requiring customer property tied to payment stablecoins to be treated as customer property rather than as property of the custodian. It would require segregation and separate accounting, while sharply limiting commingling except in a few specified cases.
That matters because the rule is not only about who may issue a payment stablecoin, but also about how the supporting asset structure is protected once it sits inside a supervised institution. In practice, it pushes stablecoin operations toward a much more formal governance model built around reserve clarity, redemption discipline, internal controls and supervisory readiness.
The vote also marks the FDIC’s second GENIUS Act rulemaking. The agency noted that its earlier proposal, issued on December 19, 2025, focused on application procedures for insured depository institutions seeking approval to issue payment stablecoins through a subsidiary. Comments on the new proposal will be accepted for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, leaving the framework open for industry response before any final standards are set.
