{"id":8328,"date":"2026-10-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalbit.top\/en\/occ-genius-act-final-rule-stablecoin-issuers\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T01:22:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T22:22:54","slug":"occ-genius-act-final-rule-stablecoin-issuers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalbit.top\/en\/occ-genius-act-final-rule-stablecoin-issuers\/","title":{"rendered":"OCC Issues Final GENIUS Act Rule for Payment Stablecoin Issuers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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On 21 October 2026 the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published the final rule that puts the GENIUS Act into effect for payment stablecoin issuers under its supervision. This news item covers who the rule applies to, what it regulates and the timeline.<\/p>

Checked 26 October 2026.<\/p><\/div><\/section>

Who the rule covers<\/h4>

The rule applies to national banks, federal savings associations, federal branches and agencies of foreign banks and their subsidiaries. It also covers foreign payment stablecoin issuers, nonbank entities seeking or holding federal qualified issuer status, and state issuers under OCC authority. Separately, it governs certain custody activities of OCC-supervised entities.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

What it regulates<\/h4>

The main text sits in a new Part 15 of Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations. It covers permitted activities, reserve assets and redemption, risk management, audits, reports and supervision, the transition of state issuers to the federal framework, custody, applications and registration, examination of foreign issuers, revocation of approval, capital and an operational backstop.<\/p>

Anti-money laundering and OFAC sanctions rules are not part of this rule. The OCC will develop them separately with the Treasury. The OCC’s announcement does not spell out the specific rules on reserves, capital and redemption times, so those must be read in the full text of the rule.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

Timeline and waivers<\/h4>

The rule takes effect on 18 January 2027. The GENIUS Act itself was enacted on 18 July 2025. It bars anyone other than a permitted issuer from issuing payment stablecoins in the US, and bars digital asset service providers from offering such stablecoins to US persons unless the issuer is permitted or meets the requirements for foreign issuers.<\/p>

Applications will open once the Office of Management and Budget approves the related information collection, and the OCC will announce this separately. For issuers already operating in the US with a substantially complete application, the OCC generally expects to grant a waiver of up to 12 months from 18 January 2027. New issuers that do not operate in the US today generally will not receive one. The OCC aims to decide complete applications within 120 days.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

What businesses should do<\/h4>

Companies that accept payment stablecoins in the US or offer them to US customers should find out whether the issuer has an approval or a pending application, or qualifies as a foreign issuer meeting the requirements. The European approach is different: ESMA requires services for non-MiCA stablecoins to stop, as we wrote in our news item on the ESMA opinion<\/a>. It is better to review the stablecoin list in your product for both markets in advance.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

Primary sources<\/h4>