The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency stands as the inaugural regulatory body to complete its stablecoin guidelines under the GENIUS Act.
During Wednesday, the agency released its concluding directive to enact legislation previously endorsed by President Donald Trump during the prior year concerning stablecoin oversight. The financial watchdog announced that the mandate will become active on January 18, 2027.
“Today’s final rule advances President Trump and Secretary Bessent’s vision for American leadership in digital assets,” remarked Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould via an official release. “We are providing a clear, practical framework for payment stablecoin innovation, with strong standards for reserve backing, redemption, and risk management.”
Additional federal departments have been developing their respective responsibilities under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, or GENIUS, statute following its enactment by Trump last year. The legislation established a federal oversight structure for stablecoins, which mandates that digital tokens be entirely supported by U.S. greenbacks or similarly liquid holdings, alongside compulsory yearly examinations.
The concluding regulation from the OCC generates a legal structure for approved stablecoin creators, laying out routes for both traditional financial institutions and non-bank entities to engage in payment stablecoin operations. Furthermore, the directive sets benchmarks for international stablecoin creators and defines criteria for asset custody.
Significantly, the completed directive deviates from the initial draft regarding how it handles stablecoin rewards, which grant holders the ability to accrue yields on stored balances.
The preliminary rule from the OCC mirrored the GENIUS framework by prohibiting creators from directly distributing yields on stablecoins. That earlier draft also presumed specific arrangements might break the law if issuers maintained certain commercial ties with outside vendors.
The ultimate rule drops that presumption concerning external parties, a regulatory representative explained during a briefing with journalists, because the original text merely guessed at potential circumvention rather than recognizing an established “nascent market.”
The handling of stablecoin incentives has transformed into a major source of disagreement while the Senate attempted to approve wider digital asset policies, known as the CLARITY Act, which has since stalled after the full Senate failed to advance the bill in a procedural vote.
Earlier in the year, discussions surrounding the oversight of such incentives intensified, sparking fierce arguments between traditional banking institutions and the digital asset sector. The GENIUS statute did not stop platforms such as Coinbase from offering perks, yet banks argue that permitting such rewards could siphon deposits away and potentially destabilize local financial institutions.
The regulatory representative noted that evaluations will happen on an individual basis.
“Obviously, to the extent that issuers have relationships with third parties, we would seek to ensure that those relationships do not violate the statutory prohibition, and we do have authority to enforce against evasions of the act,” they said. “And if we see a clear evasion, then we could pursue it accordingly.”
Originally published at https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2026-10-21-occ-final-rule-implementing-trump-signed-genius-act-421470.
