Delaware is moving to stake a claim in the fast-growing stablecoin market with a new bill that would create a full state-level regulatory regime for payment stablecoin issuers.
Introduced Tuesday as Senate Bill 19 — the Delaware Payment Stablecoins Act — the proposal lays out licensing, reserve, custody and disclosure rules for companies issuing dollar-pegged tokens to Delaware residents. If enacted, the measure would reinforce Delaware’s long-standing role as a go-to jurisdiction for financial and corporate law and could make the state an attractive alternative for issuers seeking state supervision rather than a federal charter.
Key features of the bill include:
- Licensing requirements: issuers would need a designated license, such as a payment stablecoin issuer license or a digital asset service provider license.
- One-to-one backing: stablecoins must be backed on at least a one-to-one basis by cash, bank deposits and short-term U.S. Treasurys.
- Transparency and redemptions: monthly reserve reports would be mandatory, and issuers would have to meet redemption requests within set timeframes.
- Restrictions on interest: the bill bars issuers from paying interest on stablecoins unless federal law permits it, reflecting ongoing U.S. policy debates about whether stablecoins should resemble bank deposits or payment instruments.
The timing is deliberate. Last July’s federal Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (the GENIUS Act) established a national framework that allows state-chartered issuers to operate under state supervision if a state’s rules are “substantially similar” to federal standards. Delaware’s draft explicitly seeks to align with that structure, arguing the state has a “compelling interest in establishing a payment stablecoin regulatory framework that is competitive, protective of consumers, and consistent with the federal framework.”
The stakes are large. Dollar-pegged stablecoins currently represent roughly $305 billion in circulation worldwide, with most tied to the U.S. dollar. Analysts at Standard Chartered expect the sector to expand sharply — projecting more than $2 trillion in stablecoins by the end of 2028 — and legislative clarity at state and federal levels could accelerate that growth even further.
As states jockey to attract digital-asset firms, Delaware’s proposed framework would offer another pathway for issuers that prefer state supervision. The bill’s next steps will be closely watched by stablecoin issuers, crypto advocates and regulators weighing the balance between innovation, oversight and consumer protection.
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