On 18 August 2026, the Department of the Treasury published a notice of proposed rulemaking at 91 Fed. Reg. 53368–53391 (document 2026-16796, RIN 1505-AC95, docket TREAS-DO-2026-0496) to implement section 3 of the GENIUS Act (Pub. L. 119-27, 12 U.S.C. 5902). Comments must be received on or before 19 October 2026. The govinfo PDF is the 24-page proposed text of new 12 C.F.R. Part 1523; the live Federal Register API still leaves effective_on blank.

This filing is Treasury-only. It sits next to the joint FinCEN and banking-agency PPSI customer-identification NPRM at 91 Fed. Reg. 37234 and covers issuance, offer, and sale.

What GENIUS section 3 already requires

A payment stablecoin, under section 2(22) of the Act (12 U.S.C. 5901(22)), is a digital asset designed for payment or settlement, with an issuer obligated to convert, redeem, or repurchase it for a fixed amount of monetary value. Section 3 is who may create those tokens in the United States, and which platforms may put them in front of a U.S.-located person.

Section 3(a) makes it unlawful for anyone other than a permitted payment stablecoin issuer to issue a payment stablecoin in the United States. A permitted issuer is a U.S.-formed person that is an approved insured-depository-institution subsidiary under section 5, a Federal qualified payment stablecoin issuer, or a State qualified payment stablecoin issuer. Knowing participation in a 3(a) violation carries a fine of not more than $1 million per violation, imprisonment of not more than five years, or both (section 3(f), 12 U.S.C. 5902(f)).

Section 3(b) splits the platform rules. Beginning 18 July 2028, a digital asset service provider (DASP) may not offer or sell a payment stablecoin to a person in the United States unless a permitted issuer issued it (section 3(b)(1)). On the Act’s effective date, expected 18 January 2027 (eighteen months after enactment, per section 20), a DASP may not offer, sell, or otherwise make available in the United States a payment stablecoin from a foreign payment stablecoin issuer unless that issuer has the technological capability to comply, and will comply, with lawful orders and reciprocal arrangements under section 18 (12 U.S.C. 5916) (section 3(b)(2)). Section 3(e) gives those limits extraterritorial effect when the conduct involves a person located in the United States.

Section 3(h) already exempts a direct peer-to-peer transfer between two individuals with no intermediary; an individual’s receipt between a U.S. account and a foreign account at the same parent company; and a software or hardware wallet that facilitates the individual’s own custody. Section 18(a) lifts section 3’s prohibitions for a foreign issuer supervised under a regime Treasury finds comparable under section 18(b) and registered with the OCC. Section 3(c) lets Treasury write limited de minimis or exigent safe harbors. Section 3(d) is the instruction this NPRM answers. We mapped that calendar in the one-year GENIUS rulemaking checkpoint.

What proposed Part 1523 would define and prohibit

Proposed § 1523.1 sets scope and definitions. An issuer may also be a DASP; Treasury reads every person that, for compensation or profit, engages in the U.S. business of issuing payment stablecoins as a DASP. “Issue” is the first transfer by the issuer, directly or indirectly (including by crediting an account), that results or will result in someone else having the right to use, transfer, convert, redeem, or repurchase the token. A coin sitting in the issuer’s treasury has not been issued. After a redemption, the next qualifying transfer is a new issuance. “Offer” tracks the statute and includes making available a payment stablecoin not yet issued (presales).

The load-bearing gloss is “located in the United States.” For an individual, that means physically present in the United States, unless the person is not a U.S. resident and the presence is merely temporary. The same definition excludes a U.S. resident who is temporarily abroad. For an entity, it means organized or incorporated under U.S. or State law, or having a principal place of business in the United States. Treasury asked whether that test is under- or over-inclusive. That is the open loop in the title: the proposal writes a location test, and the comment file can still move it.

Proposed § 1523.2 implements the issuance ban. Foreign issuers that meet section 18(a), including OCC registration, may issue in the United States in addition to permitted issuers. Issuance is “in the United States” only if, at that moment, the issuer is located there or issues to a person located there. Proposed § 1523.2(c) describes when an offshore person is deemed not to have issued there, even after an inadvertent U.S. mint: reasonable belief each recipient is offshore, implemented policies reasonably designed to avoid U.S.-located recipients, and no advertising or solicitation that targets them. Proposed § 1523.2(d) gives non-exclusive examples of participation in an unlawful issuance for the section 3(f) penalty: taking on a redemption obligation (including as guarantor); coordinating key steps such as soliciting customers or minting (Treasury flags white-label branding); and acting as a market maker, distributor, or initial listing venue for newly issued tokens. Later secondary-market trading is aimed at the offer-sale rules instead.

Proposed § 1523.3 is the DASP clock. Beginning 18 July 2028, a DASP may not offer or sell to a U.S.-located person unless the coin was issued by a permitted issuer or a section 18(a) foreign issuer. From the expected 18 January 2027 effective date, a DASP may not offer, sell, or make available a foreign-issuer coin unless that issuer can and will comply with lawful orders and section 18 reciprocal arrangements. Proposed § 1523.3(c) lets a DASP rely on the foreign issuer’s representation after reasonable due diligence, including confirming that no section 8 (12 U.S.C. 5907) secondary-trading prohibition is in effect, unless the DASP knows, has reason to know, or should know the representation is false. Proposed § 1523.3(d) treats as an offer or sale: direct U.S. solicitation; advertising the coin as available for U.S. purchase; answering an unsolicited U.S. inquiry with a willingness to sell; advising how to evade location detection (Treasury names IP-address checkers); and contracting with a U.S.-located person, whatever the consideration or delivery timing. Proposed § 1523.3(e) is the matching offshore pattern for platforms.

Proposed § 1523.4 restates the section 5(f) pending-application waiver (only if a primary federal regulator grants a waiver that covers section 3), the section 3(c)(2) exigent safe harbor (Treasury expects an order), and the three section 3(h) custody and P2P exemptions. Question 73 asks whether Treasury should write de minimis harbors under section 3(c)(1) now; the proposed text does not adopt one. Proposed § 1523.5 is severability. Appendix A collects interpretive scenarios.

Who has to map flows before 2027 and 2028

Foreign issuers that still mint into U.S. wallets. Without a permitted-issuer license, or a comparable-regime finding plus OCC registration, primary-market issuance to a U.S.-located person is the 3(a) problem this Part would operationalize. The 1523.2(c) pattern is a controls test: policies have to run, not sit in a binder.

DASPs that list or broker dollar tokens to U.S. users. The January 2027 foreign-issuer lawful-order screen arrives first. The July 2028 permitted-issuer listing screen arrives later. Representation-plus-diligence is the proposed method for 3(b)(2). Advising a customer how to hop an IP check is written down as an offer.

Self-custody holders. Section 3(h), copied into proposed § 1523.4(c), still leaves a direct individual-to-individual transfer with no intermediary, and a software or hardware wallet that facilitates your own custody, outside these prohibitions. Treasury is gating primary-market mint and platform offer.

LatAm rails that already move USDT and USDC. Dollar payment stablecoins are the working dollar in a large share of regional savings and remittance flows. Pix, SPEI, Bre-B, Argentina’s CNV PSAV track, and Brazil’s BCB SPSAV stack (Resolução BCB nº 520, Resolução BCB nº 584) stay local. When a U.S.-permitted issuer or a U.S.-facing DASP sits in the path (a Bitso U.S. touch, a Nu Global USDC rail, a remittance desk that offers to U.S.-located persons), issuance and offer/sale follow this Part 1523 proposal, including the section 18 foreign path and the 2027/2028 clocks. A Brazilian SPSAV file or a Panama VASP license does not answer OCC registration, or whether your counterparty is “located in the United States” under proposed § 1523.1.

Builders and counsel. Map mint, listing, solicitation, and wallet flows against proposed §§ 1523.1–1523.4, then file comments on the location test and the DASP diligence standard by 19 October 2026 on regulations.gov under docket TREAS-DO-2026-0496.

Takeaway

91 Fed. Reg. 53368 (Treasury document 2026-16796, published 18 August 2026) is an NPRM. Comments run through 19 October 2026. Proposed 12 C.F.R. Part 1523 would tell you when a mint is a U.S. issuance, when a listing is a U.S. offer or sale, and how a foreign issuer might step inside via section 18. The 18 January 2027 and 18 July 2028 dates are statutory clocks. Read the Federal Register page and the govinfo PDF before you change a listing or a mint path. This is a reading of a proposed rule, not legal, tax, or investment advice.