Regulators now treat virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and stablecoin issuers as the equivalent of correspondent banks, and expect them to apply equally robust controls against illicit finance. These firms have grown from simple on- and off-ramps for niche sets of users into the providers of liquidity and infrastructure through which the cryptoasset industry connects to the wider financial system. That position makes them a chokepoint, in the same way correspondent banks are for cross-border payments.

The US Treasury made this requirement explicit on April 8, 2026, when it proposed rules under the GENIUS Act that would require regulated stablecoin issuers to treat their counterparty relationships as correspondent relationships….