Marianas Rai Corp. wants court to set deadline for Tinian Stable Coin certified question

More than seven months after the CNMI Office of Attorney General filed a complaint to declare the Tinian Stable Coin law unconstitutional, the OAG and the defendants in the case, including the Tinian Gaming Commission, have not submitted a certified question to the CNMI Supreme Court.

In a June 2025 stipulation after the May 2025 complaint, the parties agreed to certify a legal question relating to the constitutionality of the Tinian Local Law, resulting in a stay to the proceedings.

With no filing to the court, Marianas Rai Corp., which has an exclusive 10-year contract with the Municipality of Tinian to provide and maintain computer software for the issuance and redemption of virtual currency, wants the court to set a Feb. 12, 2026, deadline for the OAG, commission, and the Tinian Municipal Treasurer to submit a certified question. According to their filing, Marianas Rai is entitled to a service fee equal to half of all taxes and fees so generated through the contract.

“Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, a global gaming industry consulting firm, projected tax and fee revenue for Tinian from internet gaming to be approximately $200 million for the first year of full operation, and CNMI BGRT to be around $54 million,” Marianas Rai said in its Jan. 13, 2026, filing.

It added, “The legal uncertainties this case has generated have seriously undermined Marianas Rai’s efforts to establish strategic partnerships for Tinian Stable Coin, as it is contractually obligated to do, and threaten to cause the loss of key team members and shareholders.”

Marianas Rai noted that the maintenance of software and systems they acquired to fulfill their contractual obligations costs upward of $5,000 per month. “Lack of revenue to fund this maintenance puts those systems in jeopardy,” the company said.

Marianas Rai said it should not take six days, let alone six months, to craft a certified question and a statement of facts explaining the controversy.

The company explained, “Marianas Rai does not know the exact reason or reasons for the protracted delay in certifying the question, but without a deadline the plaintiff has no incentive to see it through, as it achieves the result it has wanted all along—a perpetual injunction—so long as an agreement with the Mayor of Tinian and/or another Tinian government official is not reached as to the certified question or the statement of facts.”