OCC finalizes GENIUS Act rules for stablecoin issuers and custody
Summary
The OCC finalized rules implementing the GENIUS Act for payment stablecoin issuers under its jurisdiction. Issuers must hold reserves at least equal to outstanding stablecoins and generally redeem tokens within two business days. The rules cover specified banks, federal branches and subsidiaries, and qualified nonbank issuers. They retain a ban on issuers paying holders yield solely for holding, using or retaining stablecoins, while dropping a proposed presumption that some affiliate arrangements violate that ban. The rules and Act take effect Jan. 18, 2027. The OCC will announce issuer application procedures separately; anti-money-laundering and sanctions requirements will be addressed in later rulemaking.
