Federal Reserve Proposes Customer Identification Rules While Stablecoin Law May Take Effect Before Final Rules

The Federal Reserve proposed on June 18, 2026, that permitted payment stablecoin issuers maintain written customer identification programs. The plan requires issuers to collect a legal name, date of birth or formation, physical address, and government-issued identification number from each new customer before opening an account. Regulators will accept public comment on the proposal for 60 days.

The framework applies to redemption events where a holder who acquired a stablecoin on the secondary market later redeems it directly with the issuer. Purely secondary-market transfers where the issuer is not a direct counterparty, including smart-contract transfers, would not create an account relationship under the proposed rules.

U.S. Stablecoins Act, which President Trump signed into law in July 2025. The statute mandates 100 percent reserve backing with liquid assets and subjects stablecoin issuers to the Bank Secrecy Act for the first time. The Genius Act takes effect on the earlier of January 18, 2027, or 120 days after primary federal regulators issue final implementing rules.

Barr spoke in March 2026 at a Federalist Society conference in Washington, where he cited risks around reserve quality, regulatory arbitrage, anti-money laundering gaps, and financial stability. He argued that detailed rulemaking is needed to translate the statute into enforceable protections.

In April 2026, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a joint proposed rule requiring permitted payment stablecoin issuers to adopt written anti-money laundering and countering-the-financing-of-terrorism programs and a full sanctions compliance framework.