Will USDT Be Available on US Platforms After July 2028?

The GENIUS Act requires that, from July 18, 2028, digital asset service providers offering or selling payment stablecoins to persons in the United States must use tokens issued by licensed issuers. The rule applies to exchanges, custodians and payment platforms that, for compensation, exchange, transfer or custody digital assets for U.S. customers.

The statute sets an earlier date for issuers. From January 18, 2027, issuing a payment stablecoin in the United States will require a federal or state license. The separate July 18, 2028 date governs what platforms may list or sell to U.S. persons.

The law has extraterritorial reach when offers or sales are made to persons located in the United States, so foreign trading venues serving U.S. users fall under the requirement. The Treasury issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on August 17, 2026, seeking to define when a stablecoin is considered issued in the United States and how platforms must comply.

The Treasury proposal includes a limited safe harbor for inadvertent issuance to presumed non-U.S. recipients if the issuer is outside the United States, implements policies to avoid issuing to U.S. persons and does not advertise to the U.S. The proposal describes penalties for violations that could include fines up to $1 million and up to five years in prison per violation. The public comment period on the proposal is open.

The statute provides a route for foreign-issued stablecoins to remain available on U.S. platforms, but it imposes two conditions. A foreign issuer must have the technical and operational ability to comply with lawful U.S. orders, including freeze and seizure actions. U.S. authorities must also make a reciprocity determination that the issuer’s home jurisdiction has regulatory standards comparable to U.S. requirements. The technical capability can be demonstrated by the issuer; the reciprocity finding depends on U.S. evaluation of the foreign jurisdiction.

Tether’s USDT faces specific challenges under these criteria. Tether is registered outside the United States. The statute permits narrow reserve categories for payment stablecoins, including cash, insured deposits, short-dated Treasury bills, repo and government money market funds. Public disclosures and analyses show USDT reserves include assets outside those categories, such as gold, Bitcoin and secured loans. One analysis from July 2026 estimated roughly a quarter of USDT reserves are in assets the GENIUS Act excludes.

Meeting the foreign-issuer route would also require both a reciprocity determination for Tether’s home jurisdiction and a clear commitment and capability to execute U.S. legal orders. Tether has previously described potential technical or jurisdictional limits in responding to some legal orders.

Tether has launched a separate stablecoin, USAT, issued in partnership with Anchorage Digital, an OCC-chartered institution, designed for U.S. compliance. USAT’s market share remains small compared with USDT, so replacing USDT on U.S. platforms would require substantial user migration.

European regulators removed USDT trading pairs for users in the European Economic Area from July 1, 2026, while holdings and peer-to-peer transfers remained lawful. Trading volume on European platforms shifted toward tokens that complied with local rules, and market activity segmented along regulatory lines rather than by token size.

For holders in the United States, owning and transferring USDT directly between parties would remain lawful under the statute. The practical effects relate to liquidity and access: regulated exchanges, custodians and payment services may delist or restrict USDT if it does not meet licensed-issuer or reciprocity requirements. If U.S. authorities do not issue a reciprocity determination for a foreign issuer before July 18, 2028, trading venues may reduce liquidity in advance of any formal delisting, affecting the ability to convert USDT into fiat on regulated platforms.