Understanding the Intersection Between the GENIUS Act and Federal Securities Laws
The passage of the GENIUS Act has opened the floodgates for stablecoins. Dozens of new issuers from the United States and around the globe are expected to enter the market in the coming months, and the total volume outstanding continues to increase at a rapid pace.
As stablecoin innovators begin to explore their options for issuing compliant payment stablecoins, the securities law implications of the GENIUS Act have taken on an important role. In particular, choices made early in an issuer’s life may have an oversized impact on future compliance costs.
To learn more about this important issue, Mayer Brown is hosting a webinar with Liz Walsh, a former SEC lawyer in our Public Companies practice, and Matt Bisanz, fintech and regulatory partner in our Banking practice. Liz and Matt will explore the key securities law issues in the GENIUS Act, including:
- What it will mean for issuers to obtain a monthly examination of stablecoin reserves by a public accounting firm.
- Whether the exclusion of stablecoins from the definitions of a security will impact an issuer’s ability to preempt Blue Sky registration requirements.
- The types of private issuers that will be required to obtain annual financial statement audits and the types of public companies that may be precluded from issuing stablecoins.
- If and when payment stablecoins might be recognized as cash equivalents for purposes of generally accepted accounting principles.
- How the GENIUS Act ends the risk of the SEC re-imposing punitive accounting requirements like SAB 121 on stablecoin issuers.
