US Dollar stablecoins (USD)

Why this currency

The dollar is the only currency where the peg is not the interesting question. A reader arriving here already knows the peg holds most of the time.

The interesting question for the dollar is what is actually behind each token, and the answer varies far more than the shared ticker convention suggests. Different models are listed together in the roster below, and the difference between them matters more than any difference in peg performance.

Sources: Circle, transparency page, Tether transparency page

Market structure

The first group is the fiat reserve issuer. A company takes dollars, holds them in cash and short term instruments, and issues a token redeemable at par. USDC, USDT, PYUSD, USDP and RLUSD sit here. frxUSD follows the same one to one model with a different reserve: Frax states that each frxUSD is backed by cash-equivalent reserves such as tokenized US Treasury funds, held with regulated custodians.

The second is the protocol dollar. DAI, USDS, crvUSD and GHO hold their peg through collateral and incentives. Synthetic dollars such as USDe pair volatile assets with short derivatives positions, and also hold stablecoins and short-duration real-world assets directly.

A disclosure rating built for the first group says very little about the second.

Sources: Circle, transparency page, Tether transparency page, Frax docs, frxUSD, Ethena docs, backing assets overview, Sky financial dashboard

Regulation

The United States now has a federal law for dollar stablecoins. The GENIUS Act was signed on 18 July 2025. It requires an issuer to back every payment stablecoin one to one with liquid assets, such as US dollars or short-term Treasuries, and to publish the composition of its reserves every month.

The Act takes effect on the earlier of 18 January 2027 or 120 days after the federal regulators issue final implementing rules. Treasury published a proposed rule under it on 17 August 2026. Until the effective date, the Act's reserve and disclosure duties do not yet apply.

The Act sets who may issue and what must be published. It also requires an issuer to have each monthly reserve report examined by a registered public accounting firm, and its chief executive and chief financial officer to certify the report.

Sources: GENIUS Act, S.1582, enrolled text (GovInfo), GENIUS Act, S.1582, full text (Congress.gov), White House, fact sheet on the GENIUS Act signing, US Treasury, GENIUS Act proposed rulemaking

Common questions