BlackRock backs OCC’s GENIUS Act, urges wider reserve rules

BlackRock filed a comment letter with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on May 7, 2026, endorsing the OCC’s proposed GENIUS Act framework for permitted payment stablecoin issuers and urging changes to reserve rules.

The firm said it prefers the OCC’s Option A, a principles-based approach with an optional quantitative safe harbor. The safe harbor includes 10% daily and 30% weekly liquidity thresholds, a 40% concentration limit and a 20-day weighted-average maturity cap; BlackRock recommended keeping those guardrails while widening what counts as eligible reserves.

BlackRock detailed seven recommendations. It asked the OCC to allow same-day settling government money market funds to count toward the weekly liquidity requirement, citing more than $6.2 trillion held in such funds. The firm requested formal confirmation that qualifying exchange-traded funds receive the same treatment as other eligible reserve instruments and asked that separately managed accounts remain available for professional reserve management. The letter was signed by five executives, including Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets.

The asset manager opposed a proposed 20% cap on tokenized forms of eligible reserves, saying such a limit would focus on asset form rather than measure risk. BlackRock also asked the OCC to add U.S. Treasury floating rate notes with maturities up to two years to the list of eligible reserve assets.

The OCC proposal, published March 2, sets standards for permitted payment stablecoin issuers under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act. The draft covers reserve assets, diversification and concentration limits, capital requirements and supervisory expectations, and the agency is accepting comments before finalizing the rules.

In a public post accompanying the filing, BlackRock wrote, “With the right regulatory framework in place, stablecoins can improve the payments system and drive new forms of financial utility, including real-time settlement.” The firm has previously framed tokenization as a new asset class for institutional portfolios.

The filing specifies where a large asset manager seeks changes to reserve treatment and operational rules ahead of the OCC’s final guidance.