THE FED’S GENIUS ACT RULE IS IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER — 104 PAGES, COMMENTS DUE NOVEMBER 30 — NO STABLECOIN GETS ISSUED UNLESS THE ISSUER CAN SEIZE, FREEZE, BURN OR BLOCK IT ON A LAWFUL ORDER

The Federal Reserve's proposed rule for the stablecoin issuers it supervises was published in the Federal Register on September 29, 2026. It runs 104 pages. Comments are due November 30. The Board announced it on September 24.

Most of it is about reserves, capital and applications. One line matters more than the rest. Quoting the GENIUS Act, the rule says an issuer "can only issue payment stablecoins if the issuer has the technological capability to comply, and will comply, with the terms of any lawful order." The law defines a lawful order as one that requires the issuer to "seize, freeze, burn, or prevent the transfer" of its coins.

So the freeze is not an optional feature. It is the condition for being allowed to issue at all. The law does set limits: the order has to name the coins or accounts with reasonable particularity, and it has to be open to review or appeal. But the switch has to exist, and it has to work.

Bitcoin has no issuer to send that order to. Nobody can freeze a coin held in your own keys, because nobody holds a switch. That difference is now written into a federal rule. Anyone can comment until November 30. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $83,011.