A working map of how state money-transmission and digital-asset licensing regimes interact with the federal GENIUS Act framework, tracked jurisdiction by jurisdiction and linked to primary sources.
Signed into law on July 18, 2025 (P.L. 119-27, S. 1582), the GENIUS Act created the first comprehensive federal framework for payment stablecoins. Issuers with $10 billion or less in outstanding stablecoins may elect state-level supervision if their state regime is "substantially similar" to the federal framework; issuers above that threshold must transition to federal oversight (OCC, Fed, FDIC, or NCUA depending on issuer type) within 360 days of crossing it. On April 3, 2026, Treasury proposed broad-based principles for evaluating whether a state regime qualifies as substantially similar, with most implementing rulemakings due by July 18, 2026. In December 2025, the OCC granted conditional national trust bank charters to five digital asset firms: Circle (as First National Digital Currency Bank), Paxos, Ripple, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets. The Act's core requirements are expected to take effect on January 18, 2027 (18 months after enactment), the date that anchors most state rules keyed to the GENIUS Act. On August 18, 2026, Treasury proposed a further rule (12 CFR Part 1523) implementing the Act's Section 3 prohibitions: only a permitted payment stablecoin issuer may issue a payment stablecoin, and digital asset service providers such as exchanges may not offer or sell a stablecoin that is not issued by a permitted issuer (that restriction phases in three years after enactment, with separate rules for foreign issuers taking effect on the Act's effective date).
Sources: Federal Register, Apr. 3, 2026 NPRM · Federal Register, Aug. 18, 2026 NPRM (Section 3) · OCC Bulletin 2026-3
State money-transmission law and the federal GENIUS Act regulate different activities, so a state can "exclude" virtual currency while federal rules still apply.
State licensing (what the map tracks): whether a state requires a money-transmitter license to transmit, exchange, or custody stablecoins and other virtual currency for others. States marked VC Excluded do not require a state transmitter license for this activity.
Federal issuance, under the GENIUS Act: the Act governs the issuance of payment stablecoins. Only a permitted issuer may issue one: a federally regulated issuer, or a state-qualified issuer under a regime deemed "substantially similar" to the federal framework. FinCEN's federal anti-money-laundering rules also reach crypto money-services businesses independently.
Preemption for permitted issuers: a federally-permitted payment stablecoin issuer (PPSI) is preempted from state money-transmitter licensing for its stablecoin activity, even where a license is otherwise required. Third parties that transmit or custody stablecoins for a fee still fall under state licensing where required.
In short, a VC Excluded state is not one where stablecoins are unregulated: no state transmitter license is required to move virtual currency there, while payment-stablecoin issuance stays federally governed, and states like Georgia are building dedicated issuer regimes to qualify for the state pathway.
In plain terms: any digital representation of value recorded on a blockchain or similar cryptographically secured ledger.
The term “digital asset” means any digital representation of value that is recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger.
Source: GENIUS Act § 2(6)
In plain terms: a digital asset used to pay or settle, whose issuer promises to redeem it for a fixed amount of money and to keep its value stable. National currencies and bank deposits do not count.
The term “payment stablecoin”—
(A) means a digital asset—
(i) that is, or is designed to be, used as a means of payment or settlement; and
(ii) the issuer of which—
(I) is obligated to convert, redeem, or repurchase for a fixed amount of monetary value, not including a digital asset denominated in a fixed amount of monetary value; and
(II) represents that such issuer will maintain, or create the reasonable expectation that it will maintain, a stable value relative to the value of a fixed amount of monetary value; and
(B) does not include a digital asset that—
(i) is a national currency (the statute lists further exclusions, including certain deposits).
Source: GENIUS Act § 2(22)
In plain terms: the umbrella term for anyone legally allowed to issue a payment stablecoin in the United States. Only these three kinds of entity may issue one.
The term “permitted payment stablecoin issuer” means a person formed in the United States that is—
(A) a subsidiary of an insured depository institution that has been approved to issue payment stablecoins under section 5;
(B) a Federal qualified payment stablecoin issuer; or
(C) a State qualified payment stablecoin issuer.
Source: GENIUS Act § 2(23)
In plain terms: a company set up under a state's laws and approved by that state's stablecoin regulator to issue payment stablecoins — the state-supervised path the GENIUS Act allows. It excludes national banks, federal branches, and insured depository institutions, which are federally regulated instead.
The term “State qualified payment stablecoin issuer” means an entity that—
(A) is legally established under the laws of a State and approved to issue payment stablecoins by a State payment stablecoin regulator; and
(B) is not an uninsured national bank chartered by the Comptroller pursuant to title LXII of the Revised Statutes, a Federal branch, an insured depository institution, or a subsidiary of such national bank, Federal branch, or insured depository institution.
Source: GENIUS Act § 2(31)
In plain terms: a business (such as a crypto exchange or custodian) that, for profit, trades, transfers, or custodies digital assets for people in the United States. It excludes the underlying software and infrastructure — protocols, self-custodial wallet interfaces, validators, and liquidity pools.
The term “digital asset service provider”—
(A) means a person that, for compensation or profit, engages in the business in the United States (including on behalf of customers or users in the United States) of—
(i) exchanging digital assets for monetary value;
(ii) exchanging digital assets for other digital assets;
(iii) transferring digital assets to a third party;
(iv) acting as a digital asset custodian; or
(v) participating in financial services relating to digital asset issuance; and
(B) does not include—
(i) a distributed ledger protocol;
(ii) developing, operating, or engaging in the business of developing distributed ledger protocols or self-custodial software interfaces;
(iii) an immutable and self-custodial software interface;
(iv) developing, operating, or engaging in the business of validating transactions or operating a distributed ledger; or
(v) participating in a liquidity pool or other similar mechanism for the provisioning of liquidity for peer-to-peer transactions.
Source: GENIUS Act § 2(7)