Law and public policy
As of 24 September 2026, the United States is building market-structure rules for crypto. Those rules are not finished. This page is a description of public statutes and regulators. It is not legal advice, and it is not investment advice.
GENIUS Act
The GENIUS Act is US law. It was signed on 18 July 2025. The statute’s name is the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act. It is a federal framework for payment stablecoins. Implementing rules were not finished by the one-year mark. The statute’s fallback timing runs toward 18 January 2027.
The GENIUS Act does not legalize all crypto. It does not turn every token into a payment stablecoin, and it does not finish the market-structure questions below. GENIUS Act bill text on Congress.gov.
CLARITY Act
The CLARITY Act, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, passed the House in July 2025. Senate cloture failed on 15 September 2026. It is not enacted. It is not current law.
Who writes and enforces the rules
The public actors in this chapter are Congress, the Treasury, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Congress writes statutes. Treasury and the market regulators write and enforce rules inside the authority those statutes give them.
Outside the United States
The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, MiCA, is the large existing regime outside this US story. Many countries license exchanges. This page does not invent a list of those countries.
Exchanges and self-custody
Centralized exchanges still use identity checks, often called KYC, where their regulators require it. Self-custody means you hold the keys. It is not a license to ignore the law where you live. Tax, sanctions, and securities rules can still apply to a transaction you sign yourself.
Not financial advice. This page is education, as of September 2026. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell, bridge, stake, or sign a transaction, and it is not a promise about price or yield.