The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (the GENIUS Act), which is the first federal statute to establish comprehensive prudential standards for payment stablecoin issuers.
The proposed rule creates a new regulatory framework in 12 CFR Part 15 that governs licensing, reserve requirements, redemption obligations, risk‑management expectations, supervisory examinations, and reporting requirements for permitted payment stablecoin issuers and foreign payment stablecoin issuers. The rule also addresses capital adequacy rules, prompt corrective action standards, and OCC procedural requirements.
Consistent with the GENIUS Act, the proposal requires all issuers to maintain fully backed reserves consisting of high‑quality liquid assets such as cash, Federal Reserve balances, short‑dated U.S. Treasury obligations, and/or government money‑market funds. It also prohibits issuers from paying any form of interest or yield to holders of payment stablecoins.
Foreign payment stablecoin issuers that operate in the United States must register with the OCC and are subject to OCC examination, supervision, and assessment fees. This requirement extends federal oversight to foreign issuers.
The proposed rule includes more than two hundred questions requesting public comment on issues such as reserve composition, issuer licensing, operational resilience, capital treatment, and supervisory expectations. Comments must be submitted within 60 days of publication. Entities that issue, distribute, or support payment stablecoins should evaluate the potential operational, compliance, and supervisory implications of the proposal and consider submitting comments. This proposal represents the first implementing rule issued by any federal regulator under the GENIUS Act, and it is therefore likely to set the tone for the remaining interagency rulemakings that will define the future U.S. stablecoin regulatory framework.
