The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency expects to finalize its rules for implementing the GENIUS Act by November, setting up the agency to begin reviewing stablecoin-related applications early next year, Comptroller Jonathan Gould said Wednesday at the SALT conference in Wyoming.
The timetable would place the OCC’s rulemaking ahead of the GENIUS Act’s January 2027 effective date, even though the agency and other federal regulators missed an earlier July deadline set by Congress. Gould said the OCC’s aim is to start processing applications “within the new year,” offering the clearest indication yet of when firms could begin seeking federal approval under the new stablecoin framework.
The rule will determine how national banks and federally supervised entities engage with payment stablecoins under the law, including the risk-management standards they must meet. For issuers seeking a federal path, the OCC’s requirements could become a central test of whether their reserve operations, liquidity planning, governance and compliance systems are ready for supervision.
occ revises proposal after public comments
Gould said the OCC received public comments after releasing its initial proposal in February and revised the draft in response. The proposal spans 376 pages and describes the agency’s intended role in stablecoin oversight, including capital and liquidity requirements linked to an issuer’s risk-management practices.
Capital requirements generally require a regulated company to maintain financial resources that can absorb losses. Liquidity rules focus on whether the company can rapidly meet payment and redemption demands without disrupting normal operations. Those safeguards are especially relevant for stablecoin issuers, whose business model depends on users being able to redeem tokens for the underlying assets at par.
The OCC has historically supervised national banks and federal savings associations. Under the GENIUS Act framework, its work on stablecoins would connect those existing supervisory responsibilities to a new federal regime for payment tokens intended to maintain a stable value.
A final rule by November would give regulated firms more time to examine the completed standards before the law takes effect. It would also help clarify which activities require an application, what documentation applicants must provide and how the OCC will assess a company’s operational readiness.
genius act requires reserve backing and large-issuer audits
President Donald Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, known as the GENIUS Act, into law in July 2025. The statute creates a federal framework for payment stablecoins, requiring them to be fully backed by U.S. dollars or similarly liquid assets.
The reserve requirement addresses a longstanding concern in the stablecoin market: whether a token issuer can honor redemptions during periods of stress. Under the law, the assets backing a stablecoin must be structured around cash or assets designed to retain value and remain readily available, rather than relying on more volatile holdings.
The legislation also requires annual audits for issuers whose stablecoins have market capitalizations above $50 billion. That threshold places the largest issuers under a more formal audit obligation, while the broader framework establishes baseline rules for reserve backing and issuance.
The GENIUS Act also sets guidelines for stablecoins issued outside the United States. Those provisions could shape how foreign issuers access the U.S. market and how domestic users interact with tokens launched under overseas regulatory systems.
Gould’s November target does not change the law’s requirements, but it would translate them into an operational rulebook for entities supervised by the OCC. The practical effect will depend on the final text, particularly on how the agency calibrates liquidity, capital and application standards for different types of issuers and banking structures.
missed deadline leaves agencies working toward 2027
The OCC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other agencies were instructed to complete implementing rules by July. That deadline passed without final regulations, leaving the agencies to finish work closer to the statute’s January 2027 start date.
Regulators often need to convert broad legislative mandates into detailed procedures that can be applied consistently during examinations and licensing reviews. The OCC’s decision to solicit comments and revise its proposal indicates that the final version may differ from the February draft, although Gould did not outline the changes in his Wyoming remarks.
The compressed schedule could put pressure on prospective issuers and banks that want to operate under the federal framework from its opening phase. Firms will need to compare their reserve arrangements, internal controls and redemption procedures against the final requirements once they are published.
For existing stablecoin businesses, the rules may also influence whether they seek federal supervision, remain under state-level arrangements where available, or alter products to meet the law’s definition of a payment stablecoin. The legislation creates standards for a specific category of dollar-linked tokens rather than a blanket approval process for every digital asset marketed as stable.
broader market-structure legislation remains unresolved
The stablecoin rules are moving forward separately from congressional efforts to pass broader cryptocurrency market-structure legislation. Lawmakers turned attention after the GENIUS Act’s passage to the Clarity Act, a proposal intended to address wider questions surrounding federal oversight of digital-asset markets.
As of Aug. 19, 2026, the Clarity Act had not been enacted after encountering repeated obstacles. Its unresolved status leaves the GENIUS Act as the more advanced federal legislative framework affecting a major segment of the crypto market.
That division matters in practice. Stablecoin issuers are approaching a defined statutory regime with reserve and audit obligations, while many other crypto businesses still face less settled federal rules around market structure and agency jurisdiction.
The OCC’s expected November rule is therefore likely to be watched closely for more than its deadline. Its treatment of applications, capital, liquidity and ongoing supervision will show how one of the country’s principal bank regulators intends to apply the GENIUS Act’s safeguards to firms seeking to issue or support payment stablecoins under federal oversight.
For deeper context on U.S. stablecoin rules and the GENIUS framework, explore this GENIUS Act stablecoin analysis now.
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