OCC Finalizes Its GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rule, Effective Jan. 18

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued its final rule implementing the GENIUS Act, the US payment stablecoin law, on October 21. The rule and the Act both take effect on January 18, 2027. The Block and PANews report that the OCC is the first regulator to complete its rulemaking under the Act.

Details

The rule sets up a framework for permitted payment stablecoin issuers and gives both banks and nonbank firms a path into the business. It covers reserve backing (full backing in US dollars or similarly liquid assets), redemption at par, risk management and annual audits, and it clarifies standards for foreign issuers and for custody of reserve assets. Comptroller Jonathan Gould said the agency is providing "a clear, practical framework for payment stablecoin innovation."

The biggest change from the draft published in February concerns rewards paid to holders. According to CoinDesk, the OCC keeps the ban on issuers paying interest "solely in connection with the holding, use, or retention" of a stablecoin, but drops the presumption that certain issuer arrangements with third parties are violations. Those will be judged case by case, and the agency keeps its enforcement authority.

The OCC also said it will not presume that rewards programs that predate the Act comply with it. CoinDesk lists current market offers that will need to pass that test: PayPal's 4% on PYUSD, Coinbase's 3.75% on USDC and Kraken's 4.5% on USDG.

What it means for the market

The rule covers national banks and trust companies. The FDIC, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury are still writing their own complementary rules, with timelines running past January, so the full US stablecoin regime is not yet in place.

For the market, the rule gives issuers such as Tether and USDC, and the exchanges that list them, a clearer target on reserves and rewards ahead of the law's start date. For the live bitcoin price, see the daily briefing.