The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has finalized its rule implementing the GENIUS Act, establishing a federal framework for stablecoins. In a new insight, Director of Financial Services Policy Thomas Kingsley discusses notable changes from the proposed rule, including the elimination of the rebuttable presumption that stablecoin reward programs are illegal.

He concludes:

The OCC’s final rule establishes a substantial framework for payment stablecoin issuance, but its most consequential choices increase the discretion retained by the agency. Eliminating the rebuttable presumption leaves the yield prohibition in place while deferring clearer standards for its application; the reserve provisions preserve quantitative safeguards while relying more heavily on principles-based supervision. Neither change necessarily proves that the OCC has sided with banks or crypto firms. If anything, the OCC appears to have sided with itself. Firms should not have to discover the limits of a federal prohibition by guessing what a regulator might decide after the fact. Delegated discretion is not permission to leave consequential policy questions unresolved.

Read the analysis.