The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued the first final federal rule implementing the GENIUS Act, putting existing stablecoin rewards programs offered through crypto exchanges under regulatory scrutiny.
The rule, issued Wednesday, sets the operating framework for companies that issue dollar-based payment stablecoins in the United States. It also covers custody arrangements and relationships between issuers and third-party platforms where the tokens are traded or used.
For exchanges and other firms that already offer customers rewards linked to stablecoins, the most important message is that previous operation does not provide protection. According to CoinDesk, the OCC said firms will need to establish that their programs comply with the law; existing programs will not receive automatic approval or special treatment.
What the OCC rule says
The OCC is an independent bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department that supervises national banks and trusts. Those institutions are expected to have a central role in issuing payment stablecoins under the GENIUS Act, whose formal name is the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act.
The final rule provides a process for regulated firms and eligible foreign companies to issue stablecoins in the United States and sets requirements for keeping the tokens in custody. It is intended to work alongside further rules being prepared by the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The OCC rule does not cover the Bank Secrecy Act provisions that will be handled by other Treasury units.
The agency’s rule is scheduled to take effect on January 18. It is the first completed rule from a federal banking regulator under the act, although the wider implementation process is not finished.
A central unresolved issue is the GENIUS Act’s prohibition on payments made to customers “solely in connection with the holding, use, or retention” of a payment stablecoin. The OCC declined to provide examples showing exactly which rewards arrangements would violate that restriction. Instead, it said the statute would be applied to the facts and circumstances of each individual arrangement.
The word “solely” could be significant. The OCC indicated that a reward made at least partly for other reasons may fall outside the ban. However, the final rule removed earlier “rebuttable presumptions” that would have treated specified activities as violations unless firms demonstrated otherwise.
Why stablecoin rewards are under scrutiny
Payment stablecoins are crypto tokens designed to track the value of the U.S. dollar. They are intended to provide a steadier unit of value than more volatile digital assets. Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC currently lead the sector, while additional issuers are entering the market.
Some exchanges and financial companies offer incentives to customers who use or hold stablecoins. The arrangements resemble customer-reward programs familiar from other financial services. PayPal, for example, offers a 4% return for users of its PYUSD, while Coinbase One provides 3.75% on USDC positions and Kraken+ subscribers can receive as much as 4.5% on USDG accounts, according to the source material.
The GENIUS Act’s restriction on issuers providing payments that resemble interest has been controversial. Bankers have argued that exchange rewards could compete with the deposits that underpin their business models. The issue became prominent in lobbying around a separate Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which failed to advance in a key Senate vote last month.
The OCC said it must apply the GENIUS Act as enacted unless Congress changes it. It rejected the argument that existing rewards programs should be presumed lawful simply because lawmakers may have known about them when passing the legislation. The agency will therefore assess established programs under the same statutory framework as newer arrangements.
Other regulators are still working
The OCC’s action is only one part of the regulatory rollout. The legislation called for a mid-year implementation deadline, but that timetable was not met by the agencies involved.
- The FDIC issued application standards late last year and proposed rules in April for state-chartered institutions.
- The Treasury Department proposed its approach in August, including issues involving foreign issuers such as Tether.
- FinCEN and OFAC jointly proposed controls in April covering transaction-stopping or freezing capabilities and Bank Secrecy Act compliance.
- The Federal Reserve last month proposed rules for subsidiaries of member banks that plan to issue stablecoins, including procedures for issuance and capital and reserve standards.
Because several of those proposals were still within their public-comment periods, it was unlikely that every required rule would be complete by the broader January effective date.
The OCC said its framework could give a range of institutions, including community banks, an opportunity to participate in the stablecoin market. It also changed its approach to reserve requirements from the proposal, adopting principles-based standards for diversification and concentration. Those standards include minimum daily liquidity and safeguards against excessive exposure to a single counterparty.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at 11:59 a.m. on October 21, 2026, showed Stable (STABLE) at $0.0270671402, up 7.2% over 24 hours and 1.48% over seven days. Compound (COMP) was $25.5477077064, up 11.79% in 24 hours and 11.44% over seven days.
Genius Terminal (GENIUS) stood at $0.3077546186, gaining 2.78% over 24 hours but falling 4.23% over seven days. Comedian (BAN) was $0.0582925665, up 8.93% in 24 hours and 7.22% over seven days. These market figures describe the quoted assets and do not determine whether any stablecoin rewards program complies with the OCC rule.
