The 14 types of GENIUS Act issuer

The GENIUS Act purports to create three major types of stablecoin issuer. But by my count, there are at least 14 different forms that a permitted payment stablecoin issuer can take.

The 14 forms differ from each other across 12 key dimensions. Some of these dimensions arise from the GENIUS Act itself. Others come from laws triggered by other characteristics of the issuer or its owner.

Of these 14 forms, only ten "basic forms" are available as initial pathways to stablecoin issuance. The remaining four "evolved forms" are created when a smaller state qualified issuer crosses the $10b issuance threshold.

Key dimensions distinguishing forms of permitted payment stablecoin issuer:

➡️ Authorizing Regulator(s): The body that must approve the issuer to issue payment stablecoins
➡️ Ongoing Regulator(s): The regulators that exercise ongoing supervision of the issuer.
➡️ Backup Enforcement: The regulator, if any, that has backup enforcement authority over the issuer.
➡️ Size Limit: Whether the issuer is limited in the amount of outstanding stablecoins it may issue.
➡️ Master Account Access: Whether the issuer is eligible for a Federal Reserve master account, and under which Tier its access request would be considered.
➡️ BHC Parent Required: Whether a company that controls the issuer must be a bank holding company.
➡️ Regulation W: The extent to which the issuer's transactions involving all or some of its affiliates are subject to the affiliate transaction restrictions of the Federal Reserve's Regulation W and §§ 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act.
➡️ Licensing Preemption: The extent to which state licensing laws are preempted, and which law applies instead.
➡️ Supervision Preemption: The extent to which state regulators are prevented from exercising supervisory authority over the issuer.
➡️ Parent MTL & Custody Passporting: The extent to which owning the issuer gives its parent nationwide money transmission and custody powers.
➡️ Basic or Evolved Form: Whether the form is available to a newly approved stablecoin issuer or only through evolution from another form of issuer.
➡️ Pre-Evolution Available: Whether the form evolves from a form that exists in a pre-GENIUS licensing framework, allowing a firm to get a head start on the application (or even issuance) before the GENIUS Act applications window formally opens.

Of course, no potential issuer gets to choose among all 14 forms (or even all 10 basic forms.) Each firm's options are narrowed by firm-specific constraints, including whether it is (or has) a depository institution and (for existing issuers) how big it is already. But I expect every potential issuer will have to (get to?) choose among 2-5 realistic options.