OCC Races the Clock to Finish GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rules

U.S. banking regulators are racing the clock to complete a new federal rulebook for payment stablecoins before the GENIUS Act takes effect in January. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is now targeting November for its final regulations.

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould told the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium that the OCC is moving rapidly after receiving industry feedback on a sweeping proposal governing stablecoin issuers.

“We are very intent on moving quickly and getting a final rule out by November so that we will be able to start processing applications within the new year,” Gould said, according to Decrypt.

The timetable would give prospective issuers only a short period to analyze the completed framework before the law takes effect. The GENIUS Act becomes effective on the earlier of Jan. 18, 2027, 18 months after its July 2025 enactment, or 120 days after federal regulators issue final implementing rules.

Regulators have already passed the law’s separate one-year deadline for promulgating rules. The OCC’s November goal represents an attempt to finish the framework before the January effective date compounds uncertainty for issuers, banks, trading platforms and other digital-asset service providers.

The OCC released its 376-page proposal in February and accepted public comments through May. It covers nearly the entire life cycle of a payment stablecoin, including permissible reserve assets, redemption at par, liquidity, risk management, audits, reporting, custody, supervision and the orderly wind-down of failed issuers.

The proposal would also establish application and registration procedures, capital and operational backstops and rules for state-qualified issuers transitioning into the federal system. Separate rulemaking addresses Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering and sanctions requirements in coordination with the Treasury Department. The OCC said its main proposal covers all of the regulations the agency is required to issue except those areas.

Enacted in July 2025, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act created the first comprehensive U.S. regulatory structure specifically for payment stablecoins, digital assets intended to maintain a fixed monetary value and be used for payment or settlement.

The law generally restricts issuance in the United States to “permitted payment stablecoin issuers.” Those can include subsidiaries of insured banks, federally approved nonbank issuers and issuers licensed under qualifying state regimes. Issuers must maintain reserves backing their outstanding stablecoins, honor redemption obligations and comply with disclosure, risk-management, audit and financial crime requirements.

The framework also reaches beyond issuers. Digital-asset service providers generally will be prohibited from offering or selling payment stablecoins to U.S. customers unless the issuer is permitted under the law or is a qualifying foreign issuer. Treasury published a separate proposal addressing those restrictions on Aug. 18, but its comment period remains open until Oct. 19, leaving relatively little time to finish that portion of the framework before January. Treasury’s proposal would clarify which activities amount to offering or selling a stablecoin in the United States.

Gould said the OCC expects to begin processing issuer applications in 2027. He also reported that digital asset chartering activity has increased eightfold compared with the previous administration, suggesting that federal oversight is attracting substantial interest.

The November target is not a firm publication date, however. Until regulators complete the interlocking rules, companies will lack a definitive account of the operational, licensing and compliance standards they must meet. For an industry preparing to enter a newly regulated federal market, the remaining months are becoming as important as the statute itself.

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