OCC Advances U.S. Digital Asset Leadership with Final Rule to Implement GENIUS Act

Key dates

2025-07-18

The GENIUS Act was enacted.

2026-10-21

The OCC published the final rule, application and waiver guidance, and revised proposed reporting forms.

2027-01-18 Deadline

The GENIUS Act and OCC final rule take effect; U.S. payment-stablecoin issuance generally requires permitted payment stablecoin issuer approval, and existing issuers seeking a waiver generally must have a pending substantially complete OCC application by this date.

2027-01-25 Deadline

Proposed effective report date for the weekly reporting form, subject to Office of Management and Budget approval.

2027-03-31 Deadline

Proposed effective report date for the quarterly reporting form, subject to Office of Management and Budget approval.

Suggested considerations

• Firms considering U.S. payment-stablecoin issuance should assess whether they qualify as a permitted payment stablecoin issuer, a federal qualified issuer, a state-qualified issuer subject to OCC authority, or a foreign issuer within the rule's scope.
• Existing U.S. issuers should consider preparing a substantially complete OCC application and evaluating whether a waiver request is needed by January 18, 2027; the OCC may grant waivers for up to 12 months beginning on that date, generally where an eligible application is pending.
• Applicants should prepare documentation covering the business plan, management, reserve assets, issuance and redemption processes, risk management, capital and liquidity, shared services, BSA/AML/OFAC controls, third-party risk, enterprise risk, compliance risk, and audit functions.
• Issuers should map reserve assets to the final rule's 1:1 backing, daily-liquidity, diversification, and counterparty-concentration requirements and establish controls capable of supporting generally timely redemption within two business days.
• Compliance and product teams should inventory interest, yield, cashback, loyalty, referral, and exchange rewards arrangements involving payment stablecoins and document the business purpose and consideration supporting each payment, because the OCC has not provided a categorical safe harbor and will apply the statutory prohibition case by case.
• Issuers should design weekly reserve and payment-stablecoin activity reporting and quarterly reports of condition and income, subject to confirming the final OMB-approved forms and effective reporting dates.
• Banks and other OCC-supervised custodians should review custody arrangements, segregation and control frameworks, third-party dependencies, and contractual allocation of responsibility for stablecoin and reserve-asset custody.
• Firms should track the separate Treasury, FinCEN, OFAC, Federal Reserve, and FDIC implementation work because the OCC final rule does not complete BSA, AML, or sanctions requirements and is only one component of the GENIUS Act framework.

What changed

New 12 CFR part 15 establishes requirements for permitted payment stablecoin issuers, foreign payment stablecoin issuers subject to OCC authority, certain state-qualified issuers, and specified custody activities conducted by OCC-supervised entities. The framework covers issuer activities, reserve assets, redemption, risk management, audits, reports, examinations, supervision, custody, applications and registrations, state-to-federal transitions, foreign-issuer supervision, approval revocation or rescission, and capital and operational backstops. Issuers must maintain reserve assets with a value at least equal to outstanding payment stablecoins, maintain liquidity and diversification controls, and generally process redemption requests within two business days. The final rule adopts a princ

Who is affected

• National banks and their subsidiaries that issue payment stablecoins or conduct covered custody activities
• Federal savings associations and their subsidiaries that issue payment stablecoins or conduct covered custody activities
• Federal branches and their subsidiaries
• Nonbank entities seeking or holding federal qualified payment stablecoin issuer status
• State-qualified payment stablecoin issuers for which the OCC has regulatory or enforcement authority
• Foreign payment stablecoin issuers subject to OCC regulatory authority
• Digital asset service providers offering or selling payment stablecoins to persons in the United States
• Crypto exchanges and other platforms operating stablecoin rewards or incentive programs

Related regulations

• Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act)
• 12 CFR part 15
• 12 CFR part 3
• 12 CFR part 6
• 12 CFR part 8
• 12 CFR part 19
• Bank Secrecy Act
• FinCEN anti-money-laundering regulations
• Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions regulations