How to create a stablecoin in 2026: issuers and rules

Most businesses that create a stablecoin put their brand on a coin minted by a licensed issuer, and the harder work starts after launch, when the coin needs liquidity and a reason for people to hold it.

To create a stablecoin, a business picks a peg and a reserve model, chooses who legally issues the coin, deploys the token contracts on one or more chains, and then builds the liquidity and integrations that let people use it. In the US, the GENIUS Act now decides who can do the issuing, so most companies that create their own stablecoin do it through a licensed partner such as Paxos, Bridge or Coinbase. Stablecoins in circulation reached about $312 billion on 23 September 2026, according to DefiLlama, and two of the larger branded coins, PYUSD at $2.7 billion and USDG at $3.2 billion, were launched this way.

Can you create your own stablecoin?

Yes, though "create" covers two very different jobs. Writing a token contract that tracks $1 is a small engineering job. Issuing a payment stablecoin to the public means holding reserves, redeeming at par on demand, running KYC and sanctions checks, and publishing reserve reports, and in the US it needs a licence.

Most branded coins take the second route. PayPal's PYUSD is issued by Paxos, MetaMask's mUSD by Bridge, and the Global Dollar (USDG) by Paxos for a network of distributors. In each case the brand owns the customer relationship and the issuer holds the licence and the reserves.

The five decisions behind every stablecoin

• Peg: the currency the coin tracks, usually the US dollar, sometimes the euro or another fiat currency.
• Backing: fiat reserves (cash, Treasury bills, repo), crypto collateral held in smart contracts, or a hedged derivatives position. US payment stablecoins must use the first.
• Issuer: your own licensed entity, or a partner that mints the coin under your brand.
• Chains: where the token lives, which decides which wallets, exchanges and DeFi protocols can reach it.
• Redemption: who can swap the coin back for dollars, at what minimum, and how fast. Redemption access keeps the peg under stress.

Who is allowed to issue a stablecoin under the GENIUS Act?

The GENIUS Act (Pub. L. 119-27, signed 18 July 2025) makes it unlawful for anyone other than a "permitted payment stablecoin issuer" to issue a payment stablecoin in the US. A permitted issuer is a US-formed entity that falls into one of three groups:

• a subsidiary of an insured bank or credit union, approved by its banking regulator
• a federal qualified issuer, supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
• a state qualified issuer, which can stay under a state regime while its outstanding issuance is $10 billion or less

Every permitted issuer must hold reserves at least 1:1 in cash, bank deposits, short-dated Treasuries, repo or government money market funds. It must publish the reserve mix each month, have that report examined by a registered public accounting firm, and have its CEO and CFO certify it. It also needs the technical ability to freeze or burn coins when a court or agency issues a lawful order.

The Act takes effect on the earlier of 18 months after enactment (18 January 2027) or 120 days after regulators publish final rules. The OCC proposed its rules in early 2026 and was reported in August to be targeting November for the final version. Three years after enactment, US exchanges and wallets can only offer stablecoins from permitted or approved foreign issuers.

For adoption, the provision with the most weight is Section 4(a)(11), which bars an issuer from paying holders "any form of interest or yield" solely for holding the coin. Our guide to the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts covers that ban in detail.

Should you issue it yourself or partner with an issuer?

Issuing yourself means applying to become a permitted issuer, then building reserve management, custody, attestations, compliance and redemption operations in-house. It gives full control of the reserve income and the roadmap, and it's the slowest and most expensive route. Partnering hands those jobs to an issuer that already holds the licences, in return for a share of the reserve income or a fee.

Provider details are from each company's own site, read on 23 September 2026. None of them publishes a standard price. The cost of a launch depends on the reserve-income split, minimum balances, how many chains the coin needs, and whether the brand wants its own minting and redemption access or routes everything through the partner.

How does a stablecoin issuer make money?

Almost all issuer revenue is interest on the reserves. The 3-month Treasury bill yielded 4.01% on 22 September 2026 (FRED), so every $100 million of coins backed by T-bills earns roughly $4 million a year before costs. Under a partner model that income is split between the issuer and the brand, and often shared again with the exchanges and apps that distribute the coin. Because the GENIUS Act bars paying holders for simply holding, none of it goes to the people holding the coin.

How does a new stablecoin get distributed after launch?

A stablecoin that can't be traded or used attracts no supply, and distribution usually takes more work than issuance. The pieces most launches need are:

• Market makers: firms that quote tight buy and sell prices around $1 on exchanges, so large holders can move in and out without slippage.
• DEX liquidity pools: pairs against USDC, USDT and the chain's native token, often seeded by the issuer or the chain.
• Exchange listings: centralised venues where retail users can buy the coin with fiat.
• Integrations: wallets, payment apps and lending markets that accept the coin as a payment method or as collateral.
• A yield layer: a vault or lending market where holders can earn, since the issuer itself can't pay them.

How an anchor vault gives holders a reason to hold

A chain or issuer can steer demand through the yield layer. An anchor vault is a dedicated vault for one stablecoin that routes deposits into lending and liquidity on the coin's home chain, and its receipt token then becomes a building block for other protocols. How blockchain ecosystems grow TVL and DeFi liquidity covers the pattern from the chain's side.

Agora's AUSD on Monad is the working example. About $154 million of AUSD sat on Monad on 23 September 2026 (DefiLlama), and the earnAUSD vault on Upshift held about $31 million of it, according to Upshift's backend on the same day. An onchain count on 16 September found 84% of earnAUSD shares deposited in other Monad protocols, mainly Pendle, Morpho, Curvance and Neverland, so the vault's receipt token has become collateral and a trading asset in its own right.

Upshift builds these vaults for issuers and chains, with a curator (typically a hedge fund or asset manager) running the strategy inside limits fixed in the vault contract. How to launch an onchain vault walks through the setup.

Risks of launching a stablecoin

• Runs and depegs: if holders doubt the reserves, redemptions can outrun liquid assets. USDC briefly lost its peg in March 2023 when $3.3 billion of Circle's reserves were held at Silicon Valley Bank as it failed.
• Partner concentration: a white-label coin depends on its issuer's licence, custodian and bank relationships.
• Regulatory timing: final GENIUS rules, and matching regimes such as MiCA in the EU, can change what a launch needs.
• Smart contract and bridge risk: every chain the coin lives on adds contract and messaging code that can fail.
• Thin liquidity: a new coin with shallow pools can trade away from $1 even with full reserves.

Always make sure to do your own research and be aware of the above and any other risks before depositing.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make my own stablecoin?

Yes. Anyone can deploy a token contract, and businesses can launch a branded, fully reserved coin through a licensed issuer such as Paxos, Bridge or Coinbase. Issuing a payment stablecoin to the US public yourself requires approval as a permitted issuer under the GENIUS Act.

How do I create a stablecoin without a licence?

Use a partner that already holds one. The partner mints and redeems the coin and holds the reserves, and your company controls the brand, the product and the distribution.

How much does it cost to create a stablecoin?

Providers don't publish standard prices. The main cost drivers are the reserve-income split, minimum balances, the number of chains, and liquidity you seed for market makers and DEX pools after launch.

Do stablecoins make money?

Issuers earn interest on the reserves, about 4% a year on T-bills in September 2026, and share part of it with partners and distributors. Holders earn nothing from the issuer and turn to lending markets or vaults for a return.

Can a new stablecoin pay yield to holders?

Only through a third party, since the GENIUS Act bars permitted issuers from paying interest or yield for holding. Holder yield comes from putting the coin to work, for example in an anchor vault or a lending market.