Last call on two crypto rulebooks: Treasury's stablecoin comments close today, the SEC's token rule tomorrow, and Hyperliquid wants five changes

Two of the biggest pieces of US crypto rulemaking reach their public-comment deadlines this week. Comments on the Treasury Department's proposed rule implementing section 3 of the GENIUS Act must be received on or before today, October 19, according to the notice published in the Federal Register in August. The SEC's comment period on Regulation Crypto Assets, proposed on August 18, closes tomorrow, October 20, per the agency's rule page.

Treasury's proposal would add a new part 1523 to its rules, spelling out that only permitted issuers, and certain foreign issuers that meet the law's conditions, may issue payment stablecoins in the United States. It sets out when an issuer outside the US is deemed not to be issuing in the country, including that it reasonably believes each recipient is outside the US, has controls to avoid issuing to US persons and does not target US customers. The law's bar on digital asset service providers offering or selling stablecoins from issuers that are not permitted or qualifying foreign issuers takes effect on July 18, 2028, three years after enactment.

The SEC's plan would create two registration exemptions for crypto offerings, up to $5 million over four years and up to $75 million in each 12-month period, with principles-based disclosure and a conditional safe harbor from the "investment contract" definition. Antifraud rules would still apply.

The Hyperliquid Policy Center, in a comment letter reported by crypto.news, supports the proposal but asks for five changes: writing the SEC's existing airdrop interpretation into the final rule, clarity on secondary trading of exempt tokens, a developer safe harbor that does not imply a past securities relationship, a distinction between automated and operator-directed token buybacks, and keeping federal preemption of state registration rules after a project qualifies. None of these changes has been adopted; the final rules may differ from the proposals.