| name | genius-research |
| description | Research and populate U.S. GENIUS Act compliance data (the `genius` field) for a tracked stablecoin. Use when adding or auditing GENIUS applicability, authorization status, issuer pathway, regulator fields, enforcement/foreign-exception posture, or reserve/redemption disclosure in `shared/data/stablecoins/coins/*.json`. |
GENIUS Compliance Research
Research a stablecoin's standing under the U.S. GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act) and write a sourced genius object into the coin's per-coin JSON entry when the evidence supports it.
docs/genius-tracker.md is the source of truth for the genius schema, applicability/status criteria, the Zod cross-field rules, sourcing requirements, and legal framing. Read it before classifying — do not re-derive criteria from memory. This skill encodes the workflow; the spec encodes the rules. docs/compliance-page.md covers the page contract.
Input
A stablecoin name, symbol, or ID from shared/data/stablecoins/coins/*.json, or a batch of them.
Process
Step 1: Read current state
Read the coin's entry in shared/data/stablecoins/coins/*.json (use coins.generated.json for a canonical runtime view; treat the runtime re-export as import-only). Note:
jurisdiction, flags.pegCurrency, flags.backing, collateral, pegMechanism — a starting hypothesis for applicability, not truth.- Whether
genius already exists (verify and refresh rather than blindly replace).
- Whether the asset is even a GENIUS-scope payment stablecoin. DeFi CDPs, yield/savings wrappers, governance units, and tokenized funds are usually out of scope — leave
genius undefined unless the coin is prominent and likely confused with a payment stablecoin.
Step 2: The genius schema
Required: applicability, authorizationStatus, issuerPathway, reviewer, reviewedAt (YYYY-MM-DD). Object is .strict() — no unknown keys. See docs/genius-tracker.md for the full field table and enum values. Key dimensions: applicability, authorization status, issuer pathway, primaryFederalRegulator/stateRegulator, foreignExceptionStatus, enforcementStatus, daspOfferSaleStatus, reserve/redemption disclosure flags, references, negativeEvidenceReview.
Zod cross-field rules (Zod-enforced — check:stablecoin-data fails otherwise):
ppsi-approved / state-qualified / official-application-pending → need a federal-register, federal-regulator, or state-regulator reference.issuer-announced-intent → need an issuer-disclosure / issuer-filing / regulator reference.no-public-authorization-found → need a negativeEvidenceReview.reserveDisclosurePresent: true → need reserveDisclosureUrl.foreignExceptionStatus: "registered-exception" → need foreignExceptionEvidence with a federal reference.enforcementStatus: warning-or-notice | prohibited-or-revoked → need a regulator reference.
Step 3: Research the sources
Use WebSearch / WebFetch (fall back to agent-browser on 403). In descending authority for authorization claims:
- Federal Register notices/rules.
- Federal regulators — OCC (bulletins), Federal Reserve, FDIC, NCUA, FinCEN, OFAC, Treasury.
- State regulators — for state-qualified pathways.
- Issuer filings / disclosures — GENIUS-pathway statements, transparency pages, redemption policies, attestation hubs.
- Auditor reports — reserve attestations.
- News — weakest; never sufficient alone for an official status.
Map token → legal issuer entity → public posture. Confirm the entity matches this token, not a same-name affiliate.
Step 4: Assign the dimensions
Defer to the criteria tables in docs/genius-tracker.md. Set applicability first (is it even a payment stablecoin?), then authorizationStatus, issuerPathway, and the qualifying fields. Record what is publicly present for reserve/redemption disclosure. When uncertain between two statuses, pick the more conservative one and explain in notes.
While the regime is in rulemaking (GENIUS_REGIME_STATE.rulemakingPhase in shared/lib/compliance-regime-state.ts), genuine ppsi-approved / state-qualified rows should be exceedingly rare — most honest answers are issuer-announced-intent or no-public-authorization-found.
Step 5: Guardrails
- Never fabricate an approval. No
ppsi-approved / state-qualified / official-application-pending without a regulator-grade reference naming this token's issuer.
no-public-authorization-found is a dated negative conclusion, not laziness — populate negativeEvidenceReview.sourcesChecked with the registers/pages actually checked.- Leave
genius undefined for unassessed coins and the DeFi/wrapper/fund long tail. Use an explicit excluded/not-applicable row sparingly, only for prominent confusable tokens.
- Regime is not effective during rulemaking — do not imply it is.
- Informational, sourced tracking surface, not legal advice.
Step 6: Present findings
Per coin: existing genius (or none), sources used with access dates, confidence (High/Medium/Low), and the proposed genius JSON object. If research-only, stop here. Wait for approval before applying.
Step 7: Apply & verify
After approval, Edit the coin's JSON. Place genius immediately after jurisdiction (before mica if both are present, matching existing files). Set reviewer: "Pharos compliance research" and reviewedAt to today. Then:
export PATH="$PWD/node_modules/.bin:$PATH"
tsx scripts/maintenance/generate-stablecoin-per-coin-asset.ts
node scripts/build-data/build-client-registry.mjs
npm run check:stablecoin-data
Fix any schema failures before reporting done.
Batch / audit mode
Work coins one at a time; present findings for 3-5 per approval round, then apply and continue — mirror mica-research / reserve-research. For a broad MiCA + GENIUS pass across many coins, use the saved compliance-research workflow (landscape → research → adversarial verify → reconcile), which orchestrates this skill's logic at scale and emits a corrections manifest for deterministic apply.
Quality standards
- Every asserted status traces to a source; official statuses trace to a regulator-grade reference naming the issuer entity.
- Enum values exactly match
shared/types/core.ts; omit optional fields rather than guess.
- The conservative call wins ties; the reasoning lands in
notes.
