The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued its final rule under the GENIUS Act, covering reserves, redemption, custody and capital, effective Jan. 18, 2027. Anti-money-laundering and sanctions rules will come later with Treasury.
U.S. payment stablecoins now have a federal rulebook for bank-supervised issuers. What they do not yet have is a starting date for licenses.
The OCC said on Wednesday that it had issued a final rule implementing the GENIUS Act, setting requirements for payment stablecoin issuers under its jurisdiction, including foreign issuers, and for certain custody activities. The rule and the law both take effect on Jan. 18, 2027. The OCC said it received "hundreds of comments" on its proposal, which was published on Feb. 25.
What is settled
The new rules cover the activities issuers may engage in, the assets that can back their coins, redemption, risk management, audits and reporting, custody, the transition from state to federal oversight, applications and registrations, foreign issuers, revocation, and capital and operational backstops. They apply to national banks and their subsidiaries, federal savings associations, federal branches of foreign banks and federally qualified issuers, among others. The OCC also introduced new reporting forms for permitted issuers.
Two details stand out in the final text. The OCC dropped trading volume as a metric in the rule, and it specified that payment stablecoins are not a permitted reserve asset, so one stablecoin cannot be backed by another.
"We are providing a clear, practical framework for payment stablecoin innovation, with strong standards for reserve backing, redemption, and risk management," Comptroller Jonathan V. Gould said. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent compared the GENIUS Act to "President Abraham Lincoln's National Currency Act of 1863."
What is not
Three things remain open. Rules on the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money-laundering and sanctions compliance will be handled in a separate rulemaking with the Treasury Department. The OCC said it "will announce in a separate news release when it will begin accepting and processing applications." And the rule's treatment of rewards paid to stablecoin holders, which matters to exchanges that share income on coins such as USDC, is likely to draw close reading from issuers and their lawyers.
Who it helps
There are two ways to read a completed rulebook. One is that it opens the market: banks and fintech companies now know what a federally supervised stablecoin must look like and can plan launches for 2027. The other is that detailed requirements on reserves, capital and audits favor issuers that already operate at scale, such as Circle, whose shares closed up 4.5% on Wednesday during a broad rally in crypto stocks.
What to watch
The OCC's announcement of an application window; the joint anti-money-laundering rule with Treasury; and how quickly issuers apply once the window opens, which will determine who can issue a payment stablecoin when the law takes effect in January 2027.