OCC finalizes stablecoin rule: two-day redemption limit, no presumption on yield payments

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a final rule on October 23 to implement the GENIUS Act, the 2025 law that created a federal framework for payment stablecoins, in a Federal Register notice. The rule applies to issuers and certain custody activities under the OCC's jurisdiction and takes effect on January 18, 2027.

What the rule does

The GENIUS Act "was enacted on July 18, 2025," and leaves many requirements, including those on capital, liquidity and operational risk, to be set by regulators. The OCC proposed its rule on March 2, 2026, and "received approximately 328 comments in response to the proposal," from crypto companies, trade groups, banks, nonprofits, academics and individuals.

The final rule includes these provisions:

• Redemption: "timely redemption may not exceed two business days following the date of the requested redemption."
• Redemption surges: an issuer must notify the OCC within 24 hours if it receives redemption requests above 10% of the outstanding issuance value of any brand of payment stablecoin in a single 24-hour period.
• Reserves: at least 5% of reserve assets must be held in demand deposits, funds in share accounts payable on demand, or money in an account with a Federal Reserve Bank; one option in the proposal would have required 10%. The rule does not require reserves to be segregated brand by brand, but reserve assets must be identifiable and kept separate from other assets of the issuer.
• Yield ban: the OCC "determined to eliminate the rebuttable presumption from the final rule." The proposal would have presumed that certain transactions with affiliates and related third parties violated the prohibition on paying interest or yield solely for holding a stablecoin. The OCC said it "retains its authority to address evasion" of the Act, "including the yield prohibition."

Context and next steps

Commenters disagreed on how prescriptive the reserve, liquidity and diversification rules should be and on the yield ban. The OCC said it expects to update the regulations "as necessary, in the years following the effective date" as business practices develop, and to supplement the rule with guidance.