Fintech 2026

USA – WASHINGTON TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS Contributed by: Blank Rome LLP

Cryptocurrency On 18 July 2025, Trump signed into law the Guid - ing and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (“GENIUS”) Act, which is the most sig - nificant federal law regulating cryptocurrency to date. In enacting this legislation, the Trump administration has promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the world”. Some of the key aspects of the GENIUS Act are as follows: • Only approved, regulated entities (bank subsidiar - ies, federal non-banks, or qualified state entities) may issue stablecoins. • Issuers must hold 100% backing in US currency, demand deposits, or Treasury bills with maturities of 93 days or less. • Issuers are prohibited from using misleading marketing regarding government backing or FDIC insurance. • States may regulate smaller issuers (USD10 billion or less) with federal oversight over larger issuers. The GENIUS Act requires that final regulations be issued within one year of enactment, with full imple - mentation 18 months after enactment or 120 days after the final regulations are issued. Stablecoins represent approximately 30% of the total transaction volume for cryptocurrencies, and it remains to be seen how the rest of the market will fare in 2026. Certainly, the Trump administration has been strongly supportive of cryptocurrencies, issuing the Trump EO, signing the GENIUS Act, and conditionally approving five crypto-focused trust charters. Howev - er, BTC, ETH, and all the other major cryptocurrencies had negative price returns in 2025. The importance of cryptocurrencies and other block - chain-based innovations in the fintech space has always waxed and waned based on broader market fluctuations. We suspect greater growth in the fintech space if the broader cryptocurrency market improves, but lagging demand until that time.

closure rules, usury limits, and other protections under state and federal law. The 2025 Advisory Opinion cuts against these allega - tions, but these cases will continue to develop across 2026 and, given that courts are no longer bound by agency interpretations of the law, will be subject to de novo review, which could lead to different courts inconsistently interpreting and applying provisions of statutes like TILA and the MLA. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) In May 2025, the Trump administration announced its decision to abandon a Biden-era interpretive opinion issued by the CFPB, which took the position that buy now, pay later (BNPL) companies must comply with TILA like other consumer lenders. However, states continue to show interest in BNPL products. New York passed the “Buy Now Pay Later Act”, which, among other things, imposes licensing requirements, caps interest rates, requires the Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services to establish maximum fee limits, and imposes disclosure and record retention requirements. The New York BNPL Act has a broad scope with respect to the products and entities covered. It applies to point-of-sale instal - ment loans regardless of whether interest or finance charges are assessed and irrespective of the number of instalments required to repay the loan. In addition, the term “buy-now, pay-later lender” includes lenders and other persons who operate a platform, software, or system with which a consumer interacts and the primary purpose of which is to allow third parties to make BNPL loans. Further, while federally chartered depository institutions are exempt from the prior writ - ten authorisation requirement, state-chartered depos - itory institutions are not, which is a surprising and unu - sual distinction in the context of state lending laws. On 1 December 2025, a group of state AGs issued demands to six of the market-leading BNPL providers, requesting information regarding their BNPL prod - ucts. Among other information, the AGs specifically requested information about how BNPL providers assess a consumer’s ability to repay, and information regarding billing practices, late fees, and handling of disputed charges.

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