Delaware's General Assembly has introduced Senate Bills 16 and 19 — two pieces of legislation that together would modernize the state's banking statutes and create a dedicated framework for stablecoin issuers, according to a regulatory analysis published by Jones Day.

The legislation lands in a session in which federal stablecoin measures have stalled in Congress, leaving state legislatures to define the regulatory perimeter for digital-asset activity.

What does Jones Day's analysis cover?

Jones Day, one of the largest U.S. law firms by attorney headcount, publishes regulatory updates aimed at financial institutions, trust companies and fintechs. The analysis treats the two bills as a paired modernization effort covering Delaware's banking framework and a new stablecoin oversight regime, updating statutes written before digital assets became material to the U.S. payments system.

Why does Delaware's entry into stablecoin oversight matter?

Delaware is the corporate domicile of the majority of Fortune 500 companies. Its Court of Chancery handles the most consequential U.S. business disputes, and its Division of Corporations processes more entity formations than any other state. Statutory choices made in Dover routinely become templates for other states and for federal rulemaking.

Delaware also hosts an outsized banking sector. Hundreds of credit-card banks have chartered there to take advantage of the state's usury laws, and the state is home to a significant share of U.S. trust and custody activity. A stablecoin framework sitting alongside that sector would give issuers and their bank partners a single statutory reference point.

What gaps would the bills fill?

Federal action on stablecoins has produced proposals but no statute. The Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, which would have established a federal charter and reserve requirements for payment stablecoin issuers, did not advance in the previous Congress. Comparable measures remain under discussion but have not reached a floor vote in either chamber.

Issuers have instead navigated a patchwork of state money-transmission licenses, guidance from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wyoming's special-purpose depository institution framework and New York's BitLicense regime are the two most established state-level answers. A Delaware bill would add the country's most influential corporate-law state to that list and would likely shape how peer states draft successor legislation.

What is at stake for issuers and banks?

The two largest dollar-pegged tokens by circulating supply — Circle's USDC and Tether's USDT — process settlement volume across Ethereum, Tron and Solana. Both companies have publicly engaged regulators on stablecoin policy and have pursued banking and reserve-custody relationships in jurisdictions with clearly defined rules.

A Delaware framework that recognized stablecoin issuers under a specific licensing category, rather than as money transmitters, would alter the cost and complexity of operating from the state. Banks chartered in Delaware would gain clarity on how to hold stablecoin reserves, what capital treatment applies, and what supervisory expectations attach to those relationships.

What happens next?

The bills are pending in the Delaware General Assembly. The Jones Day analysis will be read closely by in-house counsel at banks, trust companies and digital-asset issuers evaluating where to incorporate, charter or expand.

Committee hearings, floor votes and amendments will determine whether SB 16 and SB 19 reach the governor's desk before the session adjourns, and whether Delaware establishes itself as a stablecoin hub or defers to federal action.