US Banking Lobby Seeks Extension on Stablecoin Regulatory Timeline

The American Bankers Association (ABA) is seeking a two-month extension to provide public comment on the implementation of the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin payments bill signed into law in July 2025. In a formal letter sent to the US Treasury Department, the FDIC, FinCEN, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the ABA argued that a delay is necessary to allow the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to finalize its own stablecoin rulemaking first. The association contends that the guidelines proposed by other agencies are substantially dependent on the OCC's final determinations. The ABA noted that the FDIC has explicitly attempted to align its proposed rules with those of the OCC, making it impossible to provide meaningful feedback on consistency without the OCC's final text. Under the current statutory framework, the GENIUS Act can be enacted either 120 days after final regulations are issued or 18 months after the law's enactment, whichever occurs first. This request for more time could potentially push back the operational start date of the legislation. Parallel to the GENIUS Act, the ABA is engaged in policy disputes regarding the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill. The association recently challenged a White House report suggesting that a ban on stablecoin yields would have a negligible impact on the banking sector. While Senator Thom Tillis has recommended a markup of the bill in May, a final Senate vote remains unscheduled.