genius-research

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):

1. ppsi-approved / state-qualified / official-application-pending → need a federal-register, federal-regulator, or state-regulator reference.
2. issuer-announced-intent → need an issuer-disclosure / issuer-filing / regulator reference.
3. no-public-authorization-found → need a negativeEvidenceReview.
4. reserveDisclosurePresent: true → need reserveDisclosureUrl.
5. foreignExceptionStatus: "registered-exception" → need foreignExceptionEvidence with a federal reference.
6. 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:

1. Federal Register notices/rules.
2. Federal regulators — OCC (bulletins), Federal Reserve, FDIC, NCUA, FinCEN, OFAC, Treasury.
3. State regulators — for state-qualified pathways.
4. Issuer filings / disclosures — GENIUS-pathway statements, transparency pages, redemption policies, attestation hubs.
5. Auditor reports — reserve attestations.
6. 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.