North America stablecoins

Overview

North America is the region where the interesting local currency work is Canadian. The Canadian dollar carries most of the coins on this page, from unrelated issuers and one protocol using genuinely different legal structures. The United States entry here is USAT, which Anchorage Digital describes as designed specifically for the American market. The large dollar coins that most readers associate with the United States are not on this page at all, because their market is worldwide and they sit under the global cluster.

Read this page for the Canadian dollar, then, and read the global page for the dollar.

Sources: Stablecorp, QCAD, Mento, Anchorage Digital, Anchorage Digital and Tether introduce USA₮

Market structure

QCAD is the most structurally distinctive coin in the region. It is issued by the QCAD Digital Trust, described as holding one to one Canadian dollar reserves at regulated financial institutions, and its issuer states that the trust received final approval for its prospectus, dated 20 November 2025, filed under an interim Canadian regulatory framework for stablecoins. QCAD tokens issued before that date are excluded from the trust structure, and their reserve assets are held in a separate custodial account.

A prospectus route is a different answer from the e-money route Europe took under MiCA. It puts the instrument inside securities disclosure rather than payments authorisation.

The other Canadian dollar coins come from three unrelated models. CADC is issued by Loon Payments Inc., CADD by Tetra Trust Company through its agent CAD Digital Inc., and CADm by Mento's protocol on Celo. The United States entry, USAT, is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. for the American market.

Sources: Stablecorp, QCAD, Loon, Terms of Service, Tetra Digital, CADD Terms and Conditions, Mento, Anchorage Digital, Anchorage Digital and Tether introduce USA₮, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA), EUR-Lex

Regulation

The United States and Canada are each building a federal stablecoin regime, and both are still at the rule writing stage.

In the United States, the GENIUS Act was signed on 18 July 2025. It requires one to one reserves in liquid assets such as US dollars or short-term Treasuries, and a public monthly report on reserve composition. It takes effect on the earlier of 18 January 2027 or 120 days after final federal rules.

In Canada, the Stablecoin Act was introduced through Bill C-15, the Budget 2025 implementation bill, and has received Royal Assent. The Bank of Canada will administer the framework and supervise issuers that are not already prudentially regulated financial institutions, such as banks or credit unions. Issuers must register with the Bank of Canada, hold a one to one reserve of high quality liquid assets in the reference currency and offer redemption at par. The Department of Finance expects the framework to come into force in 2027.

Sources: GENIUS Act, S.1582, full text (Congress.gov), GENIUS Act, S.1582, enrolled bill (GovInfo), White House, fact sheet on the GENIUS Act signing, Department of Finance Canada, Canada's stablecoin framework

Common questions