OCC Finalizes U.S. Stablecoin Rules Under the GENIUS Act

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has finalized the rules implementing the GENIUS Act, setting the federal baseline for payment stablecoin issuance, reserve backing, redemption, reporting, and supervision. For PSPs, issuers, and banks touching stablecoins, the useful part is not the headline — it is the operating model the OCC now expects.

1. The final rules sit under new 12 CFR Part 15 and apply to national banks, their subsidiaries, federal savings associations, federal branches of foreign banks, qualified nonbank issuers, and certain state-licensed and foreign issuers. In other words, the OCC has mapped out who can issue payment stablecoins and under what federal framework.
2. After a public consultation that produced about 328 comments, the OCC softened several parts of the original proposal. The minimum daily liquidity requirement was cut from 10% to 5% of reserve assets, while the separate weekly liquidity requirement was removed. Some fixed ratios were replaced with stress-testing and broader risk management obligations, which is the kind of change compliance teams notice immediately.
3. The final rules keep the 40% cap on reserve concentration with a single counterparty, subject to specified exceptions, and retain the maximum 2-day stablecoin redemption period. The OCC also clarified how that deadline is calculated, and the redemption rule applies to cross-border transactions as well.
4. Issuers can now offer multiple stablecoin brands, including through white-label arrangements, without setting up a separate issuer for each token. The rules also ease reserve management: surplus reserves can be withdrawn at any time, as long as outstanding stablecoins remain backed at 1:1.
5. The prohibition on yield payments was narrowed. Payments to stablecoin holders through partners and affiliates will not automatically count as a violation, but the ban on paying interest remains in effect. The OCC also expanded permitted activities to include holding crypto assets to pay network fees and test blockchain infrastructure, managing foreign exchange risks, and using trust arrangements to protect reserves.

Reserve backing remains the core requirement: issuers must maintain reserves for outstanding stablecoins at a ratio of at least 1:1 at all times. Eligible reserve assets include cash, demand deposits at qualifying financial institutions, U.S. Treasury securities with a remaining maturity of no more than 93 days, certain repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements, and investment funds that meet the prescribed criteria. Some reserve assets may also be held in tokenized form, provided they retain equivalent legal rights.