The U.S. Treasury Department has circulated a proposed rule that would specify which entities may legally issue and sell stablecoins to U.S. customers, Yahoo Finance reported.

The framework, drawn up under Treasury's Bank Secrecy Act authority, would draw a sharper line between federally regulated banks and non-bank firms operating in the dollar-pegged token market. The rule responds to years of regulatory uncertainty as stablecoins have grown into a multi-hundred-billion-dollar segment of crypto trading.

What does the proposal target?

Treasury's draft treats stablecoin issuers as money-services businesses subject to anti-money-laundering and sanctions obligations. Non-bank entities would need to register, file suspicious-activity reports, and maintain transaction-monitoring programs if the rule takes effect in its current form. The same obligations already apply to money transmitters under FinCEN's existing rules.

The proposal lands against a backdrop of enforcement. FinCEN has designated several offshore crypto mixing services as primary money-laundering concerns, and OFAC has sanctioned Tron-hosted addresses tied to illicit finance.

How does this fit with Congress?

Treasury's rule runs in parallel with two legislative tracks. The House Financial Services Committee advanced a payment-stablecoin bill in July 2023 that would create a federal charter for issuers, requiring 1:1 reserves in cash and short-dated Treasuries. Senators have floated a competing framework through the Banking Committee that would fold stablecoin oversight into existing bank-supervision structures.

Neither chamber has produced a final law. Treasury's rule offers an administrative path while Congress works.

What remains unclear?

The Yahoo Finance report does not specify the rule's exact text, comment-period length, or implementation timeline. Treasury typically opens proposed rules to public comment for 30 to 90 days before finalization. Industry participants — issuers, custodians, exchanges — historically use that window to request scope changes.

The proposal also does not resolve reserve-composition rules, the treatment of yield-bearing products, or how algorithmic stablecoins fit into the framework. Those questions sit with Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

What should issuers expect next?

Treasury's plan suggests operational cost increases for non-bank issuers. Compliance staffing, transaction-monitoring infrastructure, and reserve-attestation workflows would need to scale. Crypto-native firms that already partner with licensed banks may see fewer changes than offshore issuers seeking U.S. distribution.

The Federal Reserve, OCC, and FDIC are concurrently reviewing bank-crypto relationships through supervisory nonobjection letters and joint statements. Treasury's rule would partly harmonize stablecoin oversight across those agencies.

No Treasury press statement accompanied the Yahoo Finance report. The precise text of the proposal and any official remarks await publication in the Federal Register, after which the comment clock will start.