LayerZero has argued that regulated stablecoin issuance is central to mass adoption after Anchorage Digital selected the protocol as its preferred interoperability layer for stablecoins issued through its federally chartered bank.
LayerZero said on Sept. 22 that banks, payment providers and corporate treasury teams need digital assets that can satisfy regulatory, reserve and compliance requirements before integrating stablecoins deeply into their operations. The company published the argument one day after Anchorage Digital announced its interoperability partnership with LayerZero.
The partnership covers Anchorage Digital Bank’s stablecoin issuance platform, which currently supports products from Tether, Western Union, OSL Group and Falcon Finance. Tether’s USAT is the first stablecoin confirmed to use LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token, or OFT, standard under the arrangement.
In its latest analysis, LayerZero argues that stablecoin technology has already solved many technical barriers around settlement speed, availability and cross-border transfers, while institutional adoption still depends heavily on trust, legal accountability and compliance.
The company wrote that “Regulated is not a constraint on what a stablecoin can be,” presenting regulated issuance as a path toward use by banks and corporate treasuries. LayerZero’s position is an assessment of institutional adoption, not a regulatory finding or guarantee that regulated stablecoins will capture most future payment activity.
For a corporate treasury, LayerZero said compliance questions can include who issues the stablecoin, how reserves are managed, whether sanctioned addresses can be restricted and which entity remains legally responsible for the asset. Payment providers face similar operational questions when connecting blockchain settlement with regulated financial services.
LayerZero’s statement that banks will not deeply integrate unregulated instruments should be read as the company’s view. U.S. law sets more specific requirements covering payment stablecoin issuance, distribution, custody and compliance, while different digital assets can fall under separate legal frameworks.
The GENIUS Act, which became law in July 2025, requires permitted payment stablecoin issuers to maintain identifiable reserves of at least 1:1 and comply with federal rules covering anti-money laundering, sanctions, customer identification and suspicious-activity monitoring.
Anchorage Digital selected LayerZero after what the companies described as a months-long process to design interoperability infrastructure around the bank’s stablecoin issuance requirements. LayerZero will serve as the preferred cross-chain layer for assets issued through Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved Anchorage’s conversion into a national trust bank in January 2021. Federal records continue to list Anchorage Digital Bank National Association as a nationally chartered trust bank in South Dakota.
The OCC later terminated Anchorage’s original 2021 operating agreement in February 2026. The bank remains under federal supervision and continues operating its stablecoin issuance, custody and institutional digital asset businesses.
Anchorage says stablecoins it issues can be redeemed 1:1 for U.S. dollars through its platform, with reserve reports published monthly. Its current stablecoin lineup includes Tether’s USAT, Western Union’s USDPT and OSL Group’s USDGO, among other products.
As crypto.news previously reported, Anchorage Digital’s decision gives LayerZero a cross-chain role across multiple bank-issued stablecoins, although the companies have not announced deployment dates for every asset covered by the partnership.
Tether’s USAT is the first Anchorage-issued asset confirmed to launch with LayerZero interoperability under the new arrangement. The OFT standard is designed to maintain a unified token supply while allowing assets to move across supported networks.
LayerZero reports that OFT has processed approximately $280 billion in lifetime transfers and operates across more than 170 blockchains. The company further claims the standard handles around 87% of cross-chain transfer volume. The figures come from LayerZero and should be treated as company-reported network statistics.
USAT launched in January as Tether’s U.S.-focused dollar stablecoin, with Anchorage Digital Bank acting as issuer. The token initially deployed on Ethereum before expanding natively to Celo in July.
Tether expanded USAT to Celo as its second mainnet, adding native minting and burning alongside its original Ethereum deployment.
The Anchorage-LayerZero announcement does not state which blockchain will receive the first new USAT deployment through OFT. LayerZero said assets covered by the partnership are intended to support ecosystems including Ethereum, EVM-compatible networks and Solana, but no complete rollout schedule has been published.
LayerZero has already used the same standard outside the Anchorage partnership. South Korean custodian BDACS selected OFT this month for KRW1, its won-backed stablecoin.
KRW1 adopted LayerZero for unified cross-chain distribution across an infrastructure that LayerZero says preserves a common supply as tokens move between connected networks.
Western Union’s USDPT is among the assets named in the Anchorage agreement. The stablecoin went live on Solana in May with Anchorage Digital Bank as issuer and was designed for settlement, treasury activity and payment flows across Western Union’s network.
Western Union launched USDPT on Solana for global payment settlement before exchanges and custody providers began adding support.
OSL Group’s USDGO is another Anchorage-issued stablecoin covered by the partnership. Anchorage said the token grew from an initial $50 million Solana mint to more than $1 billion in market capitalization within roughly six months. The bank says USDGO is backed 1:1 by high-quality liquid assets and publishes monthly reserve attestations.
USDGO passing $500 million in circulating supply in June, before OSL later reported that circulation had exceeded $1 billion.
Falcon Finance’s fUSD completes the four stablecoin brands identified in LayerZero’s initial announcement. Anchorage issues fUSD for institutional settlement, collateral and treasury use, while Falcon Finance manages the surrounding product ecosystem. As previously reported, Falcon Finance launched fUSD with Anchorage Digital Bank in May.
LayerZero has not confirmed that USDPT, USDGO or fUSD are already operating through OFT under the Anchorage partnership. No exact activation dates, destination-chain lists or new contract addresses for those three assets were included in the Sept. 21 announcement.
LayerZero’s regulatory argument comes while U.S. agencies continue implementing the GENIUS Act. The law generally limits U.S. payment stablecoin issuance to permitted issuers and establishes reserve, redemption, risk-management and compliance requirements.
The OCC proposed its main implementation framework in February, covering reserves, redemption, custody, capital, operational risk and supervision for issuers under its jurisdiction. As of Sept. 23, the OCC’s published 2026 final-rule list does not show that main GENIUS Act proposal as finalized.
A separate interagency proposal covering customer identification closed for public comments on Aug. 21. Treasury and banking regulators have been developing related AML and sanctions requirements that treat permitted stablecoin issuers as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act.
The GENIUS Act itself sets an effective date of the earlier of 18 months after July 18, 2025, or 120 days after federal regulators issue final implementing rules. Anchorage and LayerZero have not provided a deadline for completing OFT integration across all stablecoins named in their agreement. For now, USAT remains the first asset formally confirmed under the arrangement, while USDPT, USDGO and fUSD await individual LayerZero deployment details.
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