The state of Florida became the first territory in the United States to adopt its own regulatory framework for stablecoins
A move that could reshape the financial map of the country—and the world.
The debate with the banking sector centers on the interest paid on tokens.
There are moments in history that mark a turning point. March 6, 2026 was one of those days. The Florida Senate and House of Representatives approved the first state-level stablecoin legislation in the entire United States.
The scale
To understand the size of the market now being regulated, the global value of stablecoin transactions reached $33 trillion in 2025, a 72% increase compared to the previous year. That is the volume of the market Florida has decided to regulate.
USDC led the transaction rankings with $18.3 trillion processed, while Tether’s USDT handled $13.3 trillion, although it still dominates in market capitalization with $187 billion. These are not niche numbers. They are figures that make many central banks pale in comparison.
What the law says
The approved legislation requires stablecoin issuers operating in Florida to obtain a license from the state’s Office of Financial Regulation before offering their tokens to residents, aiming to eliminate the “gray areas” that have shadowed the crypto ecosystem for years.
The new rule also amends anti–money laundering laws for financial services to include stablecoins, obliges issuing companies to comply with existing regulations, and prohibits the creation of these assets without prior licensing.
There is also a detail that went almost unnoticed but that crypto lawyers are already highlighting in red: the law explicitly states that certain payment stablecoins are not considered securities.
Supervision will not be exclusively local. Industry oversight will be exercised partly by Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation, but the primary authority will fall to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency at the federal level—a system of dual oversight.
Genius Act
This state law is fully aligned with the Genius Act, the federal legislation signed by Donald Trump that established nationwide rules for dollar-pegged stablecoins.
Under that law, banks and other approved entities can issue stablecoins as long as they maintain reserves in assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds and publish monthly disclosures detailing those holdings.
Republican senator Colleen Burton described the bill as a framework that combines state-level oversight with the federal structure created by the Genius Act, with the aim of strengthening consumer protections and financial stability in the stablecoin market.
There is, however, a point of tension the law does not hide. The text prohibits issuers from paying interest to token holders “to the extent that such restrictions are provided for under federal law”—a clause that sits at the heart of the debate surrounding the Clarity Act, the other major regulatory battle currently unfolding in Congress.
Companies such as Coinbase argue that issuers should be allowed to offer rewards to stablecoin holders, while banking groups warn that such incentives could drain deposits from traditional banks. For now, Florida has avoided taking sides in that war.
The bill now arrives on the desk of Ron DeSantis, who has 30 days to sign it into law. The signals are more than positive. DeSantis has publicly positioned himself as a defender of the crypto sector and, during his presidential campaign, promised to protect Bitcoin and digital assets from restrictive regulation.
Samuel Armes, founder of the Florida Blockchain Business Association, said the state is—and will continue to be—the leader in the Bitcoin world, with the ambition of becoming the crypto capital not only of the United States but of the entire world.
The rest of the world
Florida celebrates being the first in the country. But on the global chessboard, other players have already made their moves.
Japan introduced its legal framework for stablecoin issuance in 2023, while Hong Kong plans to begin licensing stablecoin issuers this year.
China, meanwhile, has followed its own path. In 2025 it briefly explored allowing private companies to issue yuan-pegged tokens, but later halted the pilot programs.
What has moved forward instead is the digital yuan. The People’s Bank of China announced a framework that will allow commercial banks to pay interest on balances held in digital yuan wallets starting January 1, 2026, integrating the e-CNY into the very core of the banking system.
Companies, investors, and developers from across the crypto ecosystem are already concentrating in Florida.