The GENIUS Act and your USDC tips: what the US stablecoin law changes for creators, and when

Updated September 25, 2026

The GENIUS Act is the 2025 US law that decides who may issue a dollar stablecoin such as USDC and which stablecoins exchanges may sell to people in the US. It does not ban tips: fans sending USDC straight to your own wallet fall under an express exemption. What changes is around the edges: from January 18, 2027 only licensed issuers may issue payment stablecoins in the US, and from July 18, 2028 exchanges may only offer US customers stablecoins from permitted or registered issuers. Treasury's proposed rules on that second step are open for comment until October 19, 2026.

What is the GENIUS Act, in plain terms?

Its full name is the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act. It was signed on July 18, 2025 as Public Law 119-27, and it is the first federal law written specifically for "payment stablecoins": tokens designed to be used for payment, which the issuer promises to redeem for a fixed amount of money and to keep at a stable value.

USDC is the obvious example for this site's readers, and it is the coin most of our guides assume you are receiving. The law does three things that matter to someone who gets paid in it:

• It licenses issuers. Only a "permitted payment stablecoin issuer" may issue a payment stablecoin in the US once the law takes effect. That means a bank subsidiary, a federally approved nonbank, or a state-qualified issuer.
• It sets rules for what backs the coin. Reserves, redemption, disclosure and what happens if an issuer fails.
• It limits what exchanges may sell. After a three-year runway, businesses that sell or exchange digital assets in the US may only offer stablecoins from permitted issuers, or from foreign issuers that meet a separate test.

What the law does not do is regulate you for holding a stablecoin or for receiving one from a fan. That point gets lost in a lot of coverage, so it has its own section below.

What did Treasury propose in August 2026?

On August 18, 2026, the Treasury Department published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register titled "GENIUS Act Regulations on Payment Stablecoin Issuance, Offer, and Sale". It implements section 3 of the Act: the part that says who may issue, and who may offer or sell, a payment stablecoin in the United States. Treasury's press release summarized the two dates the proposal is built around: issuers need the right federal or state license from January 18, 2027, and from July 18, 2028 digital asset service providers cannot offer payment stablecoins unless they were issued by licensed operators.

A few details in the full text of the proposal are worth knowing even if you never read the rest:

• When a coin counts as "issued." Treasury proposes that a stablecoin is issued at its first transfer by the issuer, directly or indirectly. Tokens minted but still sitting in the issuer's own treasury are not issued yet. Minting straight into a holder's wallet is.
• Who "participates" in an unlawful issuance. The examples are aimed at market makers and at exchanges that list an unregistered coin right after it is minted. Treasury says it generally does not intend to cover people who buy a smaller amount of such a coin for their own use.
• Foreign stablecoins. An exchange cannot simply take a foreign issuer's word that it can comply with US lawful orders. It has to do reasonable due diligence, which includes checking that Treasury has not banned secondary trading of that issuer's coins.
• Safe harbors. The Act lets Treasury create narrow exemptions for a de minimis volume of transactions and for unusual and exigent circumstances. The proposal asks the public how, or whether, to use that power.

The proposal follows an advance notice Treasury published on September 19, 2025, whose comment period closed on November 4, 2025. Separately, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency proposed its own GENIUS Act rules on February 25, 2026, covering reserves, redemption, risk management, custody and capital for the issuers it supervises.

Can fans still tip me in USDC under the GENIUS Act?

Yes. This is the question most creators actually have, and the Act answers it directly. Section 3(h) of the law lists transactions that the issuance and sale rules "shall not apply to," and two of them describe a crypto tip jar almost exactly:

• "the direct transfer of digital assets between 2 individuals acting on their own behalf and for their own lawful purposes, without the involvement of an intermediary"; and
• "any transaction by means of a software or hardware wallet that facilitates an individual's own custody of digital assets."

A fan sending USDC from their own wallet to the address on your page, the setup our tip jar generator produces, is that first kind of transfer. If you receive it in a wallet where you hold the keys, you are also inside the second. The definition of a "digital asset service provider" points the same way: it covers businesses that exchange, transfer or hold digital assets for customers for compensation, and it expressly excludes self-custodial software interfaces, the protocols themselves and the people who validate transactions.

Two honest caveats. First, if you run your jar as a business with an LLC, the text says "2 individuals," so the exemption's wording is written around people, not companies. A business that simply receives payment for its own work does not look like the exchanges and custodians the provider definition describes, but if your structure matters here, that is a question for a lawyer. Second, the Act keeps Treasury's existing power to block or restrict transactions in dollar stablecoins that fall under US jurisdiction. Sanctions law applies to wallets as it always has.

What changes for USDC itself?

Very little you would notice day to day, and a few things you might check once a year. Under section 4 of the Act, a permitted issuer must:

• Hold reserves at least one to one, limited to US cash, balances at a Federal Reserve Bank, bank deposits, Treasury bills with 93 days or less to maturity, and a few short-dated equivalents such as overnight repurchase agreements backed by Treasury bills.
• Publish a redemption policy with clear procedures for timely redemption, and disclose all purchase and redemption fees in plain language, with at least 7 days' notice before changing them.
• Publish its reserve composition every month on its website, including total coins outstanding.

Our page on what actually backs USDC walks through how Circle reports its reserves today. The Act turns that kind of reporting from a company practice into a legal requirement for every permitted issuer.

Circle has been moving toward the new regime. On July 10, 2026 it announced final OCC approval for First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., operating as Circle National Trust. The announcement describes custody services for Circle and its affiliates and calls management of the USDC Reserve a planned future capability. It does not say that the charter makes Circle a permitted payment stablecoin issuer under the Act, so do not read it that way.

Is USDC insured or government backed now?

No, and the law goes out of its way to say so. Payment stablecoins "shall not be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States," are not guaranteed by the government, and are not covered by FDIC deposit insurance or NCUA share insurance. It is unlawful to represent that they are. Issuers are also barred from naming a coin with terms like "United States" or marketing it so that a reasonable person would take it for legal tender or something the government approved.

That makes one red flag easy to spot. Anyone who pitches you a stablecoin payout scheme as "FDIC insured" or "government guaranteed" is describing something the Act forbids them to claim. Add it to the list in our guide to tip jar scams that target creators.

What the law gives holders instead is priority. If a permitted issuer goes through insolvency, section 11 puts the claims of people holding its stablecoins ahead of the issuer's other creditors with respect to the required reserves. And if an exchange or custodian holds stablecoins for you, section 10 gives customer claims priority over the claims of anyone other than other customers, unless you expressly agree otherwise. Companies that only supply hardware or software for you to hold your own coins are outside those custody rules, because they never hold your funds in the first place.

Will I earn interest on USDC under the new law?

Not from the issuer. Section 4(a)(11) says no permitted or foreign payment stablecoin issuer may pay a holder "any form of interest or yield (whether in cash, tokens, or other consideration) solely in connection with the holding, use, or retention" of the coin.

For a creator, the practical point is simple: a stablecoin is built to hold a dollar, not grow one. If a platform offers you a return on a stablecoin balance, find out exactly who is paying it and for what, because under the Act it cannot be the issuer paying you just for holding. That is a question to ask before you park tips anywhere, and it fits the same trade-off we describe in self-custody versus an exchange for payouts: the convenience of a custodian comes with its terms.

What about USDT and other stablecoins after July 2028?

Here the law does bite, but on exchanges rather than on you. From July 18, 2028, a digital asset service provider may not offer or sell a payment stablecoin to a person in the United States unless it comes from a permitted issuer, or from a foreign issuer that meets section 18 of the Act. That route requires the issuer's home country to have a regime Treasury has found comparable to the US one, and the issuer to register with the OCC. Separately, an exchange may not offer a foreign-issued stablecoin at all unless the issuer can and will comply with lawful US orders.

Which coins pass is not settled yet: it depends on licenses, registrations and comparability findings that have not all been made. So the sensible move is not to guess, but to keep your setup flexible. If you currently accept more than one stablecoin, our explainer on the difference between USDC and USDT covers why you should already label the exact token and network on your page. The Act adds one more reason: if a token you accept later becomes one US exchanges cannot sell, your cash-out route for that token may narrow, even though holding it in your own wallet is not what the law restricts.

For creators outside the US, the offer and sale rule is about persons in the United States. Your local exchange follows your own country's rules, which is why the cash-out steps in our USDC cash-out guide start with checking what your local off-ramp supports.

Key dates at a glance

• July 18, 2025: the GENIUS Act is signed into law.
• September 19, 2025: Treasury publishes its advance notice asking for input.
• February 25, 2026: the OCC proposes its issuer rules.
• July 10, 2026: Circle announces final OCC approval for its national trust bank.
• August 18, 2026: Treasury's proposed rule on issuance, offer and sale is published.
• October 19, 2026: comments on Treasury's proposal are due.
• January 18, 2027: the date Treasury expects the Act to take effect, 18 months after enactment. The Act says it takes effect on that date or 120 days after final regulations are issued, whichever comes first.
• July 18, 2028: exchanges may no longer offer or sell US persons a payment stablecoin from an issuer that is not permitted or qualifying.

What should a creator actually do?

Nothing dramatic. The law was written to make the coin under your tips more boring, which is good news. A short checklist for the next two years:

1. Keep receiving to a wallet you control. The Act's exemptions are written around individuals and self-custody wallets. If you are still unsure which wallet fits, start with which wallet to receive USDC tips.
2. Label the exact token and network on your tip page. If a coin's status changes after 2028, you will want fans sending the one your exchange still supports.
3. Check your off-ramp once a year. Before July 2028, confirm the exchange you cash out through will keep supporting the stablecoin you receive.
4. Ignore "insured" or "yield" pitches on stablecoins. The Act forbids the first claim and bars issuers from paying the second.
5. Keep your tax records as before. The GENIUS Act changes nothing about tax. Tips are still income when they arrive, and sales through an exchange are still reported on Form 1099-DA.

How do I comment on Treasury's proposal?

The proposed rule is docket TREAS-DO-2026-0496 on regulations.gov, and comments must be received on or before October 19, 2026. Treasury's release notes that comments are publicly viewable, so do not include anything you would not want posted.

A useful comment from a creator is short and specific. The proposal asks, among other things, whether safe harbors should be limited by transaction size, by time, or to a de minimis volume. If you rely on small cross-border payments, describing how you are paid, in which coins and through which kinds of services, is the kind of real-world detail a rulemaking rarely gets from individuals. Stick to what you know firsthand.

This page summarizes the GENIUS Act (Public Law 119-27), Treasury's proposed rule of August 18, 2026 and related announcements as of September 25, 2026. The Treasury rule is a proposal and may change before it is final. This is not legal or financial advice; for your own situation, speak to a lawyer who handles payments or digital assets.