The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) finalized its rules implementing the GENIUS Act on Wednesday, becoming the first federal regulator to complete the stablecoin framework Congress passed in July 2025. The rule takes effect January 18, 2027.

The regulations establish federal standards for payment stablecoin issuers, covering reserve backing, redemptions, capital, custody, audits and risk management. They also create a licensing and supervisory regime for national banks, their subsidiaries, nonbank companies and foreign issuers that fall under OCC jurisdiction.

"We are providing a clear, practical framework for payment stablecoin innovation, with strong standards for reserve backing, redemption, and risk management," Comptroller Jonathan Gould said in a statement. Gould described the rule as advancing "President Trump and Secretary Bessent's vision for American leadership in digital assets."

Enacted in 2025, the GENIUS Act was the first federal statute to govern stablecoins — the dollar-pegged tokens that serve as the main trading pair for bitcoin on most exchanges. The law required one-to-one reserve backing and annual audits, and directed bank regulators to write the implementing rules. The Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have issued their own proposals, while the Treasury Department is drafting its version.

Rewards fight left unresolved

The most consequential change from the agency's earlier February proposal is what was removed. The GENIUS Act bans issuers from paying interest or yield to stablecoin holders, but it does not address exchanges and other third parties that offer rewards on stablecoin balances. Banking groups have labeled this the "stablecoin loophole" and lobbied for months to close it, arguing that yield on tokens could drain deposits and weaken lending.

The proposed rule would have treated certain arrangements between issuers and third parties as presumed violations of the ban. The final rule drops that presumption in favor of case-by-case review.

"We will just let the market develop and address it as it comes," an OCC official told reporters, declining to say whether existing exchange rewards programs comply with the rule while noting the agency has authority to pursue clear evasions of the ban, according to Crypto in America.

The decision marks a setback for banks, which had turned to the OCC after the Clarity Act — the broader crypto market structure bill — failed Senate procedural vote in September. Stablecoin yield was one of the central sticking points in those negotiations. The open question now shifts from rulemaking to supervision: whether the OCC judges any specific rewards program to be an evasion of the issuer ban.

Reserve flexibility for issuers

The final rule also eases several proposed restrictions on reserve management. It scraps a 20-day weighted-average maturity limit on reserve assets, allowing issuers to hold longer-dated Treasuries. Issuers may now withdraw surplus reserves at any time rather than once a month, provided outstanding stablecoins remain backed one-to-one.

On redemptions, the agency removed a provision that would have extended deadlines during a surge in withdrawal requests. Instead, issuers must notify the OCC within 24 hours if redemption requests exceed 10% of a stablecoin's outstanding value in a single day, according to Crypto in America.

The OCC has yet to announce when it will accept applications from prospective issuers. Anti-money laundering and sanctions rules will follow in a separate rulemaking conducted with the Treasury. Those items, together with the Fed, FDIC and Treasury versions still in progress, are the remaining pieces to watch as the federal stablecoin regime takes its final shape.

This article is based on reporting by Micah Zimmerman, first published on Bitcoin Magazine.