OCC Finalizes Stablecoin Issuer Rules Ahead of Jan. 18 Deadline

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) finalized payment stablecoin issuer rules Wednesday, setting requirements for firms under its jurisdiction before a Jan. 18, 2027, compliance deadline.

The rule and the GENIUS Act take effect Jan. 18. From that date, a business generally must be approved as a permitted issuer to issue a payment stablecoin in the United States. A separate restriction on digital asset service providers offering or selling stablecoins from nonpermitted issuers to people in the U.S. begins July 18, 2028, subject to statutory exceptions. A condition covering certain offers of foreign-issued stablecoins applies from the earlier date.

Under the GENIUS Act’s federal stablecoin framework, a payment stablecoin is a digital asset used, or designed to be used, for payment or settlement. Its issuer must have a fixed-value redemption obligation, and the asset must be represented as having, or create an expectation of, stable value. Deposits, including those recorded on a blockchain, are excluded.

Permitted issuers can include approved subsidiaries of insured depository institutions, federally qualified issuers and eligible state-qualified issuers. They must maintain identifiable reserves backing outstanding tokens at least 1-to-1, disclose redemption policies and publish reserve composition monthly. Covered issuers cannot pay interest or yield solely because a holder holds, uses or retains a payment stablecoin.

State supervision is generally available to qualified issuers with no more than $10 billion in consolidated outstanding payment stablecoin issuance, provided the state regime is approved as substantially similar to federal requirements. A regulator may grant a waiver allowing an issuer above that threshold to remain solely state supervised.

Existing issuers seeking OCC approval may request a temporary waiver, including from the prior-approval requirement, if they have a substantially complete application pending by Jan. 18. The OCC will decide requests individually. A waiver cannot extend beyond 12 months from the effective date.

Businesses using another issuer’s stablecoin face a different set of questions. Platforms should check issuer status when assessing the applicable sales restrictions. A merchant does not become an issuer merely by accepting a stablecoin for its own goods or services, while a business that accepts value from one customer and sends it to another party must assess its activity under existing money-transmission rules.

The Federal Reserve’s issuer rules and Treasury’s anti-money laundering and sanctions requirements remain proposals. The OCC plans to announce when it will begin accepting applications and waiver requests; existing issuers seeking the temporary waiver must have a substantially complete application pending by Jan. 18, 2027.