OCC Sets November Deadline for GENIUS Act Rule

Gould drew a parallel to the OCC’s original mission when it was created in the 1860s: ensuring that reserve assets backing national bank-issued notes were of the same quality. “That’s exactly analogous to what Congress has tasked us with doing with respect to payment stablecoins,” he said.

The OCC has received 40 applications for new bank charters over the past 18 months, since Trump took office. Of those, 23 include business plans that involve some form of digital asset activity, Gould said.

“So that tells you about where the puck is going,” Gould said. “We are now seeing when we look out further, when I look out further to the pipeline of potential applicants for bank charters, it is becoming ordinary course to involve and integrate payment stablecoins, etc., in the business plans that we are now seeing presented to the OCC for consideration.”

The November deadline gives the OCC about three months to finalize the rule. The agency’s proposed rule addressed most of the regulations required under the GENIUS Act, the OCC said in February. Stablecoin issuers will face reserve and reporting requirements similar to those that applied to 19th-century national banks, Gould said.