Canada Opens Stablecoin Consultation as the US Finalizes GENIUS Rules and the UK Revisits Crypto Licensing

Canada, the US and the UK have moved crypto rules forward, while Ireland has announced a penalty over customer-fund safeguards.

The latest crypto regulation decisions affect different parts of a payment: the token issuer, the service moving it, and the firm holding a customer's money. Canada has published draft requirements for stablecoin reserves and redemption, while the US banking regulator has finalized its own issuer rule. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority is asking where payment arrangements and technical services should sit inside its coming crypto regime. In Ireland, a separate enforcement case shows how existing e-money duties already apply to a crypto company's fiat balances. These actions are at different stages. Canada's and the UK's texts are open for comment; the US rule has a future effective date; and the Irish penalty remains subject to court confirmation. Businesses need to distinguish those stages before changing a product or promising users a new protection.

Canada Opens Stablecoin Rule Consultation and Proposes Three-Day Redemption

Canada published draft Stablecoin Regulations in its official gazette on October 24. The 60-day consultation runs through December 23. The proposal would require eligible issuers to register with the Bank of Canada and back outstanding coins at least one-to-one with permitted assets denominated in their reference currency.

Holders would be able to request redemption without a minimum amount. Issuers would have three business days to liquidate reserves where needed and initiate a fiat transfer, and redemption fees would be capped at 1%. The draft permits rewards tied to transactions but maintains the ban on returns paid merely for holding a coin, including indirect arrangements through third parties. Those are proposed terms, not rules already in force; the government intends implementation in fall 2027.

The text also proposes bringing payment-service providers that use prescribed stablecoins within Canada's retail-payments framework. That matters to a business accepting USDC or another fiat-backed coin: issuer registration, reserve custody and the payment provider's obligations are separate checks. A redemption right has practical value only if a user can identify the responsible issuer and understand how to receive fiat.

US OCC Finalizes GENIUS Act Rule for Payment-Stablecoin Issuers

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency finalized its GENIUS Act implementation rule on October 21. It sets standards for payment-stablecoin issuers and foreign issuers under the agency's jurisdiction, as well as certain custody activities at OCC-supervised entities. The rule and the statute are scheduled to take effect on January 18, 2027.

The OCC says the framework covers reserve backing, redemption and risk management. Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money-laundering and sanctions requirements are still to be addressed in separate rulemaking with the Treasury Department. The agency has also said it will announce separately when it begins accepting issuer applications and waiver requests. Finalization of the rule therefore does not mean that every prospective issuer can apply today or that an unlicensed product has been approved.

For crypto payment gateways serving US merchants, the distinction is operational: a token's payment use depends on the issuer's permission and its redemption and custody arrangements. Gateways will need to check the applicable issuer and service model when deciding which stablecoins to support.

Businesses that accept crypto payments as a merchant should not treat a published framework as certification of every coin offered at checkout. Their provider still needs to identify the responsible issuer and the route for redemption.

UK FCA Consults on Exclusions for Crypto Payments and Technical Services

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority opened consultation CP26/36 on October 21. It asks how recent legislative changes should be reflected in guidance on which crypto activities need authorization. Responses are due by November 18, and the FCA aims to publish final guidance in January 2027.

The proposed guidance addresses several narrow exclusions. They include temporary settlement arrangements, temporary holding of qualifying UK stablecoins for payment transactions, and technical services that merely give access to a third-party service or decentralized protocol. The FCA is clarifying the boundary of regulated activity, not granting a blanket exemption to payment platforms or blockchain services. Its broader crypto regime is due to begin on October 25, 2027; an application window for firms seeking transitional treatment is already open.

A crypto wallet or payment provider operating in the UK may handle assets, arrange transactions and supply technical access through different legal entities. The consultation matters because permission can turn on what each entity actually does with customer assets, not on whether its product is described as a wallet, an interface or a protocol. Firms should assess the final guidance against their transaction flow before assuming an exclusion applies.

Central Bank of Ireland Announces €3.25 Million Penalty for Coinbase Ireland's Safeguarding Failures

The Central Bank of Ireland announced a €3,252,618 penalty against Coinbase Ireland Limited on October 22. The case concerns breaches of safeguarding and outsourcing obligations under Ireland's electronic-money rules between November 2020 and August 2025. Coinbase Ireland admitted the contraventions and agreed to the settlement; the sanctions still require High Court confirmation before taking effect.

The regulator found that the firm's designated safeguarding account was underfunded for extended periods. It also cited inadequate system design, insufficient control testing and excessive reliance on a US group company to perform core safeguarding work without enough local oversight. These findings concern customer fiat held as e-money by Coinbase Ireland, not a finding that every crypto asset on the wider Coinbase platform was missing.

For users of crypto finance services and exchange-linked payment accounts, the case is a reminder to ask which entity holds a fiat balance and under which rules. For providers, outsourcing a control does not outsource responsibility for testing it. The penalty concerns an existing e-money obligation, whereas the other developments in this edition concern forthcoming crypto-specific rules.