Stablecoin InfrastructureOCC · October 21, 2026
The OCC finalises its rule for payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act.
Reserve backing, redemption, and risk management now have a federal text. The rule takes effect on 18 January 2027.
On 21 October the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued the final rule implementing the GENIUS Act. It sets requirements for permitted payment stablecoin issuers and for foreign payment stablecoin issuers under the OCC's jurisdiction, and it covers certain custody activities conducted by OCC-supervised entities. Standards for reserve backing, redemption, and risk management are now written into federal regulation. The agency received hundreds of comments on the proposal from crypto firms, community banks, trade groups, and academics.
Two things are deliberately left open. Rules on the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering, and sanctions will follow in a separate rulemaking coordinated with the Treasury. And the OCC has not yet said when it will begin accepting applications from prospective issuers; that date will come in a separate release. The rule, and the Act itself, take effect on 18 January 2027.
The Calveris reading
A stablecoin is a promise to pay. Until now the quality of that promise depended on which state licence an issuer held and how much it chose to disclose. From January, a dollar stablecoin issued under federal supervision will be measured against one text.
For the infrastructure we back, which is issuance, reserve management, and the gateways between a coin and a bank account, this is the moment the specification stops moving. The firms that built to the proposal will be ready. The firms that waited will be applying.