Blockchain Association files comment on U.S. Treasury's GENIUS Act stablecoin rules, seeking clarity on trading vs. issuance and DeFi participant exemptions.
DeFi & Yields ·
The Blockchain Association filed a comment letter addressing the U.S. Treasury's proposed GENIUS Act stablecoin rules, seeking clarification on several key definitional boundaries. The submission urges clarity that secondary-market trading of stablecoins should not be treated as issuance activity, that participants in decentralized finance platforms should not be classified as digital asset service providers (DASPs), and that DASPs should be permitted to rely on government-maintained lists when demonstrating compliance with foreign-policy screening requirements (FPSI).
The comment reflects industry concerns about how regulators will draw lines between different market participants and activities under the proposed framework. The Association's filing appears focused on preventing regulatory overreach that could classify ordinary trading activity or decentralized protocol participants as regulated entities requiring compliance infrastructure.
The extent to which Treasury will adopt these clarifications in final rules remains unclear, as does the specific scope of government lists the Association referenced for FPSI purposes.