FDIC Proposes AML and OFAC Rules for State Bank Stablecoins

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on May 22, 2026 approved a proposed rule that would require certain permitted payment stablecoin issuers to follow Bank Secrecy Act anti‑money laundering rules and Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions requirements.

The agency’s notice of proposed rulemaking describes four core elements. Permitted payment stablecoin issuers would need full anti‑money‑laundering and countering the financing of terrorism programs consistent with FinCEN regulations. They would have to run comprehensive OFAC sanctions screening, including checks against the Specially Designated Nationals list and country‑based sanctions programs. The proposal aligns supervisory and enforcement expectations with existing bank examination practices. The FDIC also defines the rule’s jurisdiction as limited to PPSIs that are subsidiaries of insured state nonmember banks and state savings associations the FDIC supervises.

Covered issuers would be required to maintain customer identification programs, continuous transaction monitoring, suspicious activity reporting and records retention consistent with bank standards. The rule would require screening transactions and counterparties against OFAC lists, a process the FDIC noted can be difficult to apply to blockchain settlement that can occur at any hour and often involves cross‑border participants.

The FDIC’s draft applies only to permitted payment stablecoin issuers owned by FDIC‑supervised insured state nonmember banks and state savings associations. It does not apply to stablecoin issuers that are subsidiaries of national banks chartered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, to state‑licensed money transmitters, or to institutions supervised by the Federal Reserve.

The proposed rule is part of the GENIUS Act regulatory framework that assigns supervisory roles to multiple federal banking regulators. The FDIC’s notice positions the agency as the primary federal regulator for PPSIs within its supervised state bank category, while the OCC and the Federal Reserve would oversee their respective institution classes.

The FDIC said firms that have not previously operated under bank‑equivalent AML and sanctions obligations will need to invest in monitoring, customer‑identification, reporting and sanctions‑screening systems. The agency noted market providers and specialist vendors, including blockchain analytics and sanctions‑screening firms, that can support those controls.

Banks that plan to host a stablecoin issuer as a subsidiary will need to ensure the subsidiary’s AML and sanctions programs meet bank‑standard controls before it can operate as a PPSI. Fintech firms considering partnerships or issuance under a bank‑supervised PPSI model should assess compliance costs and operational requirements compared with state money transmitter paths that are outside FDIC authority.

The FDIC is seeking public comment on the proposal. The agency asked commenters to address whether the BSA and OFAC standards are calibrated to stablecoin operational features such as continuous settlement windows and blockchain transaction flows. The public comment period is the next formal step before the agency may finalize rule language.