The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has become the first federal banking regulator to publish a final rule under the GENIUS Act, the United States' framework for payment stablecoins. The rule takes effect on January 18, 2027, and removes a presumption in the draft version that would have cast doubt on third-party arrangements linked to stablecoin rewards. The agency's announcement confirms the publication.

Background: the OCC and the GENIUS Act

Officially named the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the OCC is part of the US Treasury Department and supervises national banks and federally chartered savings institutions. The GENIUS Act establishes a federal framework for payment stablecoins. Under the law, issuers must fully back their tokens with US dollars or similarly liquid assets, undergo annual audits, and refrain from paying interest. President Trump signed the legislation in July 2025.

The OCC announced its proposed rule in February 2026, and the text appeared in the Federal Register in March. The agency received roughly 328 comments in total, submitted by crypto firms, community banks, trade associations, and academics.

The final rule creates a new Part 15 in Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Its scope covers national banks, federal savings associations, federal branches, and their subsidiaries. Federally licensed nonbank issuers and foreign issuers under OCC jurisdiction also fall within it.

What the final rule requires of issuers

The rule spans an issuer's full life cycle, from permitted activities, reserve assets, and redemption through to the revocation of a license. It also governs risk management, examinations, reporting, and ongoing supervision, together with applications, registrations, and a capital and operational backstop. Certain custody activities carried out by OCC-supervised institutions are subject to the new standards as well.

State-chartered issuers receive a path into the federal framework, while foreign issuers face separate supervision. In parallel, the OCC is amending its existing rules on capital, prompt corrective action, fees, and procedures.

Comptroller Jonathan V. Gould described the framework as clear and workable for innovation in payment stablecoins. In his words, strict standards apply to reserve backing, redemption, and risk management. The full-reserve requirement originates in the statute itself; the final rule implements it through its requirements on reserve assets for supervised issuers. Gould situated the rule within the digital asset agenda of President Trump and Treasury Secretary Bessent.

Financial crime obligations deferred to a separate rulemaking

The rule deliberately leaves out the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering (AML) rules, and OFAC sanctions. A separate rulemaking conducted with the Treasury Department will address these areas later. A proposal covering the Bank Secrecy Act and money laundering has been published in the Federal Register since June 2026, but no final rule exists yet.

For now, the OCC therefore covers the prudential side of stablecoin oversight, not the duties aimed at financial crime. Issuers should expect two sets of rules, and other federal agencies are still working through their portions of the GENIUS Act implementation.

The presumption against third-party arrangements falls away

The final rule leaves the statutory interest ban untouched. Issuers still may not pay interest or yield tied solely to holding, using, or retaining a stablecoin. The February proposal, however, went further: it included a presumption that certain arrangements with affiliates or third parties could be impermissible. Rewards paid out by a partner rather than the issuer itself would consequently also have come under scrutiny.

That presumption no longer appears in the final rule. During a press briefing, an OCC official said the proposed text had been an estimate of whether evasion was likely and did not reflect an understanding of what remains a young market. The agency will instead review each case individually. Where an issuer maintains relationships with third parties, the OCC intends to ensure those arrangements do not violate the statutory ban, and it can act against a clear evasion of the law.

The question ultimately reflects a conflict between banks and crypto platforms. The law bans interest only for issuers, but it does not stop platforms such as Coinbase from offering rewards to their customers. Banks, by contrast, warn that such programs could drain deposits and weaken community institutions.

The deletion improves legal certainty for platforms only in part. The blanket suspicion against partner models no longer applies, yet the OCC official left open whether existing rewards programs comply. Providers will therefore learn only case by case whether their model counts as evasion.

Waivers give issuers up to twelve months of breathing room

The rule and the law take effect on January 18, 2027, giving issuers 18 months to prepare from the signing in July 2025. The agency, however, will accept applications only once the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the application forms, and it will announce the start separately.

For the transition period, the OCC has set out a waiver process. Issuers with a substantially complete application pending on or before the effective date may request such an exemption, which lasts no more than twelve months from the effective date. The regulator generally intends to grant waivers to existing issuers operating in the US.

The application process follows fixed deadlines. The OCC first checks within 30 days whether an application is complete. If an issuer submits additional documents, the agency reviews them within 30 days as well. Should an application still remain incomplete, the OCC returns it no later than 60 days after the first notice. Finally, the agency aims to decide on complete applications within 120 days. The OCC has likewise published revised reporting forms.

The GENIUS Act refers to licensed issuers as Permitted Payment Stablecoin Issuers. Anyone issuing without license on or after the effective date risks penalties, and the OCC explicitly cites criminal consequences. Issuers that currently neither operate nor issue in the US, on the other hand, should not expect waivers. The agency expects them to begin business only after receiving a license, meaning they get no transition period from the effective date.

The rewards dispute moves to the CLARITY Act

The final rule settles the rewards question only at the regulatory level. Politically, it remains a core issue within the CLARITY Act, a bill intended to establish a comprehensive market structure for digital assets. The Senate failed to advance the bill in a procedural vote, and it has stalled since then.

The roughly 328 comments on the OCC proposal illustrate how closely both sides followed the process. Some submissions called for a broader presumption, while others pressed for a narrower version or its removal.

For issuers and platforms, regulatory clarity consequently remains partial. Reserves, redemption, and licensing become binding from January 2027, while the regulator will decide on rewards case by case until Congress draws a line. Banks point to deposit outflows and the weakening of small institutions; the crypto industry argues that the GENIUS Act does not ban rewards offered via platforms. If lawmakers change the legal situation, the OCC plans to adjust its rule.