Six agencies must finalize GENIUS Act stablecoin rules

Six federal agencies are on a 35-day deadline to issue final rules under the GENIUS Act by July 18, 2026. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Treasury, FinCEN and OFAC closed major public comment periods on June 9 and are drafting final texts on the statutory timetable.

The six proposed frameworks cover the full operational requirements for permitted payment stablecoins in the United States. Topics include minimum capital, liquidity requirements, reserve composition, anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls, redemption standards and a ban on paying yield to holders.

The OCC proposed a $5 million minimum capital requirement for new federally approved stablecoin issuers in 12 CFR Part 15. The OCC also proposed a three-tier liquidity framework: at least 10% of outstanding tokens must be redeemable the same business day in Federal Reserve deposits or cash equivalents; at least 30% must be liquidatable within five business days in high-quality liquid assets; and at least 60% must be held in standard reserve assets such as securities. Regulators say the 10% same-day redemption floor aims to limit the risk of large, rapid redemptions.

The FDIC has confirmed that stablecoin token holders will not receive deposit insurance under the GENIUS Act framework, whether an issuer is a bank or affiliated with an insured depository institution. That distinction leaves reserve composition and the redemption regime as primary protections for holders in a default or liquidity event.

FinCEN and OFAC issued an AML- and sanctions-focused notice of proposed rulemaking in April. The NCUA published credit union–specific proposed rules on a parallel schedule. All six proposals include a prohibition on paying interest or other yield to holders of permitted payment stablecoins.

After final rules are published, issuers will have roughly 120 days to comply before the framework takes effect in late 2026. Large bank holding companies such as JPMorgan, Bank of America and U.S. Bancorp meet the $5 million capital floor without structural changes. Crypto-native issuers, including Circle and Coinbase affiliates, must hold at least $5 million in equity to operate under the federal framework. Firms below the capital threshold may pursue state charters; the OCC’s proposal allows a state-charter path for institutions with assets under $10 billion, though state charters limit interstate branching and some federal privileges.

The GENIUS Act passed both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support, 68–30 in the Senate and 308–122 in the House, and sets July 18 as a statutory deadline rather than a target. The U.S. payment stablecoin market is approximately $322 billion in size.

Agencies are finalizing rule text over the next five weeks. The published rules will specify the conditions under which companies can issue permitted payment stablecoins in the United States and the compliance timeline for existing and new issuers.