OCC Proposes New Stablecoin Rules as U.S. Senate Banking Committee Holds Hearing

The GENIUS Act, enacted on July 18, 2025, created the first comprehensive U.S. federal framework for payment stablecoins. It generally limits issuance in the United States to federally or state-qualified entities and extends obligations to exchanges, custodians and other digital asset service providers. The framework matters because it will determine how dollar-linked tokens, including those issued offshore, can be created, marketed and sold to U.S. customers.

The Treasury Department published a proposed rule on Aug. 18, 2026, defining terms including “issue,” “offer or sell” and “located in the United States,” with extraterritorial reach when transactions involve people in the country. Foreign issuers could qualify if their home regime is deemed comparable and they register with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Comments are due Oct. 19; knowing participation in unlawful issuance can carry fines of up to $1 million per violation and as much as five years in prison.

The GENIUS Act creates a federal framework for payment stablecoins, setting standards for reserve backing, disclosures and regulatory oversight. Signed by President Donald Trump, the law is intended to give banks and nonbank issuers a clearer route to offering dollar-linked tokens. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is responsible for translating key provisions into detailed licensing, operating and risk-management requirements.

The OCC is accelerating its rulemaking and has pledged to issue final GENIUS Act regulations by November 2026. Applications from prospective stablecoin issuers are expected to begin in 2027, making the timetable important for firms preparing to enter the new federal regime. The final rules will determine how issuers qualify, demonstrate reserve compliance and operate under ongoing supervision.

The GENIUS Act, enacted on July 18, 2025, created the first US federal framework specifically for payment stablecoins, pairing 1:1 reserve requirements with ongoing supervision. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is now translating that statute into reporting rules for issuers under its jurisdiction. The data could help supervisors spot reserve deterioration, redemption stress and shifting market activity, but the regime’s design will determine whether oversight remains proportionate for banks and nonbank issuers.

On June 11, 2026, the OCC proposed confidential Form PS-01 each week and Form PS-02 each quarter; comments closed Aug. 11. PS-01 contains eight schedules covering holders, issuance and redemption, trading activity and detailed reserve positions, including individual Treasury securities and tokenized assets. The OCC estimated 29 respondents and 6,308 annual burden hours, split between 2,864 hours of setup and 3,444 hours of ongoing compliance. Banking groups backed stablecoin-specific oversight but called the weekly detail excessive, while the Conference of State Bank Supervisors urged alignment between federal and state reporting standards.

Stablecoins typically maintain their value through assets denominated in U.S. dollars and have become an important dollar channel for crypto trading and cross-border payments. The United States signed the GENIUS Act into law on July 18, 2025, establishing a federal issuance framework for the first time. It requires every $1 token to be backed by at least $1 in eligible reserve assets. Stablecoins, however, are not bank deposits and are not covered by FDIC deposit insurance.

The FDIC board approved a proposed rule on April 7, 2026, and published it in the Federal Register on April 10. The proposal would require issuers under its supervision to meet standards covering reserve assets, redemption within two business days, capital, risk management and custody. The OCC issued its own proposal on February 25, followed by customer identification rules proposed by five federal agencies on June 18. Final rules had yet to be issued by the July 18 statutory deadline.

The GENIUS Act, signed by US President Donald Trump in July 2025, established a dual federal-state regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. It allows issuers with a market capitalization of no more than $10 billion to be regulated at the state level when state laws are broadly comparable to federal standards, making the provision critical to states’ supervisory role and the compliance options available to small and midsize operators.

On June 16, 2026, a bipartisan group of seven senators led by Cynthia Lummis sent a letter to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging the department to maintain flexibility in state certification and prevent the process from becoming a one-time window. The Treasury sought public comment in April, with submissions closing on June 2. According to CoinGecko data, only Tether, USDC and USDS exceed $10 billion in market value, leaving all other stablecoins potentially eligible for state-level oversight.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law on July 18, 2025, creating the first federal framework for payment stablecoins, with requirements covering reserves, redemptions and anti-money-laundering controls. The law also preserves a state regulatory pathway. Issuers with aggregate circulation of no more than $10 billion may opt for state oversight if the state regime is substantially similar to the federal framework and receives approval from the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee.

The U.S. Treasury Department proposed its first implementing rules on April 1, 2026, setting out principles for assessing whether state regimes are substantially similar to the federal framework. The proposal was published in the Federal Register on April 3, opening a 60-day comment period that ran through June 2. On June 16, a bipartisan group of senators including Cynthia Lummis again urged the Treasury to specify the process and timeline for states to seek certification on an ongoing basis, preventing state oversight from being rendered ineffective.

The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is advancing payment stablecoin oversight under the GENIUS Act, using Bulletin 2026-24 to translate statutory requirements into a regular reporting regime. Stablecoins hold cash and short-term assets as reserves, making liquidity and asset quality critical to redemption capacity. The new system therefore places reserve risk, operating conditions and financial soundness under continuous supervision.

The OCC issued Bulletin 2026-24 in 2026, requiring supervised stablecoin issuers to file confidential PS-01 reports weekly and PS-02 financial reports quarterly. This will produce approximately 52 short-cycle monitoring reports and four quarterly financial assessments each year. The bulletin specifies no particular monetary threshold, focusing instead on a dual-track system of short-term risk monitoring and medium-term financial verification.

US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act on July 18, 2025, establishing the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The law covers issuer eligibility, reserve assets and redemption mechanisms. It takes effect on the earlier of 120 days after final rules are issued or 18 months after enactment. The consistency of rules across agencies will shape competition between banks and crypto companies.

On April 21, 2026, groups including the American Bankers Association and the Bank Policy Institute wrote to the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FinCEN and OFAC. They asked the agencies to wait until the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency completes its issuer rules and then allow a comment period of at least 60 days. The banking groups said the three rules are interdependent and warned that finalizing them simultaneously could create inconsistent standards and enforcement conflicts.

Payment stablecoins are typically redeemable at a fixed value of $1, with issuers profiting from interest earned on reserves. Banks fear deposit outflows if those returns are passed on to holders. The GENIUS Act became law on July 18, 2025, establishing a framework for payment stablecoins. The CLARITY Act would divide oversight between the SEC and CFTC, making the yield dispute a key hurdle to advancing market-structure legislation in the Senate.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency unveiled a draft rule on March 2, 2026, that would prohibit permitted issuers from paying interest in cash or tokens solely for holding or using payment stablecoins. Indirect payments through affiliates would also be presumed to violate the rule. The proposal also covers state-regulated issuers overseen by the OCC with more than $10 billion in issuance, and comments are due by May 1. The same day, Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks finalized a compromise on yield provisions in the CLARITY Act.

The US president signed the GENIUS Act on July 18, 2025, establishing the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. These tokens are typically backed by US dollar assets and used for transfers and settlement. The new regime will shape competition between banks and crypto companies, while also affecting holders’ redemption rights and the development of the dollar-based payments system.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency unveiled proposed rules on July 17, 2026, requiring each $1 of payment stablecoins to be backed by at least $1 in eligible reserve assets. The proposal also sets risk-management, custody and operational standards. Designed to implement the GENIUS Act, the draft must still undergo public consultation and final rulemaking.