On June 13 (local time), a bipartisan group of US senators sent a joint letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, demanding that Treasury ensure the state-level oversight path explicitly written into the GENIUS Act is genuinely operable when drafting implementation rules. The effort is led by Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis. According to Tokenpost, citing Cointelegraph, the dispute centers on this: the GENIUS Act stipulates that stablecoin issuers with a market cap under $10 billion may be regulated by their home state if that state’s regulatory law is “substantially similar” to federal law — but senators worry Treasury will hollow out this path at the implementation level, leaving federal approval as the only route in practice. This has put the federal-versus-state authority fight over stablecoins back on the table.
Editorial take: the practical impact on USDT card users
Let’s state the conclusion up front: this isn’t about USDT — it’s about the competitive landscape of dollar stablecoins — but it will indirectly affect the card in your hand through the question of “which stablecoins can survive compliantly in the US.”
The GENIUS Act governs the licensing path for dollar stablecoin issuers (think USDC, PYUSD). Tether (USDT), as an offshore issuer, doesn’t fall directly under this state/federal approval framework. So if you’re using a card settled primarily in USDT — like the Asia Elite variant of our editorially selected MPCard, running on Asia-Pacific rails with Asia-Pacific BINs — this letter won’t change your top-ups, spending, or limits over the next 7, 30, or 90 days.
Two types of users should actually pay attention:
- Heavy users of dollar-stablecoin subscriptions: Those paying for ChatGPT Plus or Cursor with USDC are essentially betting on whether Circle can hold its compliant status in the US. If this regulatory fight drags on, it could indirectly affect whether card issuers are willing to keep USDC as a primary settlement asset.
- Users of US-compliant cards: Products like Coinbase Card and Crypto.com Visa, deeply tied to US regulation, are the most sensitive to how GENIUS Act rules get finalized. How authority is split between state and federal levels will determine which stablecoins they can support and which state residents they can serve.
What to expect over the next 90 days: no immediate product changes. This is still at the “senators wrote a letter, Treasury hasn’t responded” stage. But issuers’ asset whitelists are the earliest place a signal would show up.
Historical comparison: how this differs from 2023 and 2024
Two prior events are worth comparing.
March 2023 USDC depeg: Back then, Circle’s reserve exposure at Silicon Valley Bank triggered market panic, and USDC briefly fell to $0.87. That was a reserve and market-confidence problem, unrelated to regulatory framework. This time is the opposite — it’s a procedural fight over rules not yet finalized and who gets to enforce them, with no immediate price impact.
2024 SEC vs. Coinbase: That was a confrontation between an enforcement agency and a company, framed around “is this a security” classification. This time is the next step after legislation has already passed (the GENIUS Act) — a matter of how the executive branch implements it, with senators overseeing Treasury to make sure it doesn’t drift from legislative intent. In other words, 2024 argued over “should this be regulated at all,” while 2026 argues over “who regulates it and how” — the debate has moved from “whether” to “how to implement.”
What’s the same: every wave of US dollar-stablecoin regulatory turbulence eventually flows through to issuers’ asset choices. What’s different: this time there’s no panic, no depeg — it’s a slow-moving variable, giving users a wide observation window.
Where the regulatory line currently sits
Per Cointelegraph’s report, the GENIUS Act itself already reserves a state-oversight path for issuers under $10 billion — so this isn’t a case of “explicitly banned,” but rather a explicitly permitted, implementation rules pending gray zone. The core dispute is whether Treasury will let this path exist in name only when it comes to actual enforcement.
For Asia-Pacific users, this US rule carries limited direct binding force. If you’re more concerned with the compliance baseline in your own region, see our US Compliance Guide for the licensing logic behind dollar-stablecoin issuers, as well as the Hong Kong Compliance Guide and Singapore Compliance Guide — Asia-Pacific issuers tend to anchor to licenses from these two jurisdictions, and feel the second-order effects of US rules far more than direct ones.
Key milestones worth watching next
- Treasury’s formal response to the Lummis-led letter: Whether it commits to making the state-level path operable is the first clear signal.
- Publication of GENIUS Act implementation draft rules: How the draft defines “substantially similar” state versus federal law will determine how many small and mid-sized issuers can take the state path.
- Compliance status statements from dollar-stablecoin issuers like Circle / PayPal: Whichever path — federal or state — they choose will likely surface in announcements first.
- Changes to US-based issuers’ asset whitelists: Whether Coinbase or Crypto.com adjust which stablecoins they support is the step users can most directly observe.
Editorial recommendations
- Users holding MPCard and settling in USDT: no action needed. This letter doesn’t touch USDT, and your top-up and spending paths are unaffected. If you’re currently choosing a card, check our 2026 Top 5 comparison before deciding.
- Users paying dollar subscriptions (ChatGPT, Cursor) with USDC: stay put and watch for Circle announcements. There’s no reason to switch stablecoins right now — this is a slow-moving variable, not an emergency. For subscription payment details, see our ChatGPT Plus top-up scenario.
- US/dollar users planning to apply for Coinbase Card or Crypto.com Visa: proceed as normal, but add “which stablecoins the issuer supports” to your checklist — that’s exactly the item most likely to shift once implementation rules land.
Bottom line: regulation is moving toward “how to implement,” which is a good thing — it makes the rules clearer, but we’re still in the procedural bargaining phase. For most USDT card users, the right move today is to keep watching and hold off on action.