The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published on Wednesday its final rule implementing the GENIUS Act, setting out the requirements that stablecoin issuers under its supervision will have to meet once the law takes effect on 18 January 2027, the banking regulator announced.

The rule applies to payment stablecoin issuers that fall under OCC jurisdiction, including subsidiaries of national banks and federal savings associations, federally approved non-bank issuers and certain state-qualified issuers, as well as foreign issuers and certain custody activities at firms supervised by the OCC, according to an OCC bulletin.

Most of the requirements sit in a new section of the OCC's regulations covering reserve assets, redemption, risk management, audits and reporting, custody, applications, supervision of foreign issuers, and a capital and operational guarantee mechanism. The rule also covers the transition of state-qualified issuers to the federal framework and the conditions under which the OCC can revoke an issuer's approval.

Rules on the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering and sanctions are not included and will be addressed in a separate rulemaking with the Treasury Department.

"We are providing a clear, practical framework for payment stablecoin innovation, with strong standards for reserve backing, redemption and risk management," said Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent compared the GENIUS Act to Abraham Lincoln's National Currency Act of 1863, which "established a national framework for currency issued by banks".

The OCC received hundreds of comments on its proposal from cryptocurrency companies, community bankers, trade groups and academics, among others. Given the "nascency of the sector", the agency said it would monitor the sector's development and adjust its framework when necessary.

"The OCC received hundreds of comments on its proposal from cryptocurrency companies, community bankers, trade groups and academics, among others. Given the 'nascency of the sector', the agency said it would monitor the sector's development and adjust its framework when necessary."

The road to the GENIUS rules

Signed into law in July 2025, the GENIUS Act bars anyone other than an authorised issuer from issuing payment stablecoins in the US and prevents digital asset service providers from offering or selling stablecoins to Americans unless they are issued by an authorised issuer or a foreign issuer that meets certain requirements.

The OCC proposed its rules in February, opening a 60-day comment period. The proposal also left out anti-money laundering and sanctions rules, which the Treasury's FinCEN and OFAC proposed separately in April, requiring issuers to run anti-money laundering programmes, report suspicious activity and maintain sanctions compliance programmes.

Regulators missed their initial July deadline to finalise the rules. In August, Gould said the OCC was "very committed to moving quickly and publishing a final rule by November, so that we can start processing applications early in the new year".

* Translated and edited with permission from Decrypt.

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