The Blockchain Association Speaks Out in Support of the "GENIUS Act," Proposed Rule Advocating for Customer Identification Requirements Limited to Direct Trading on Primary Markets

BlockBeats News, August 25th, the United States' major crypto industry advocacy group Blockchain Association today announced that it has submitted a comment letter in support of the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit Union Administration joint proposed "GENIUS Act" stablecoin issuer rule. The Blockchain Association's core position is clear, supporting the limitation of the Customer Identification Program (CIP) obligation to only primary market issuers' direct transactional relationships with customers, rather than extending the identification obligation to downstream secondary market activities. This means that day-to-day peer-to-peer transactions will not fall under the stablecoin issuer's CIP compliance obligations, safeguarding anti-money laundering goals while avoiding undue burdens on the decentralized trading environment.

The Blockchain Association also calls for clearer definitions of key terms such as "account," "customer," and "digital asset service provider," and suggests excluding one-time redemptions and stablecoin-unrelated activities. It also requests the avoidance of duplicative compliance requirements and clarifies that stablecoin issuers have flexibility in verifying customer information. Regarding the effective date, the Blockchain Association proposes aligning the proposed CIP rule's effective date with the separately implemented anti-money laundering rules under the "GENIUS Act."