The OCC wants a final stablecoin rule on the books by November. The goal: start processing issuer applications in 2027. Comptroller Jonathan Gould laid out the timeline Wednesday.
Speaking at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium on Aug. 19, Gould said the agency has already worked through public comments on its 376-page February proposal and revised accordingly. The rule would put the GENIUS Act into operation ahead of its January 2027 effective date. The law, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins statute, was signed by President Donald Trump in July 2025. Federal regulators face a statutory deadline of Jan. 18 to finalize the regulations.
“So we are very intent on moving quickly and getting a final rule out by November so that we will be able to start processing applications within the new year,” Gould said, according to The Block.
The OCC, Treasury Department, FDIC, and Federal Reserve Board were all directed to finalize rules under the GENIUS Act. Several regulators published proposals and collected feedback. None released finalized rules by a July 2026 target. That left stablecoin issuers in regulatory limbo, Cointelegraph reported.
That part is new: the missed July deadline.
The February proposal staked out the OCC’s jurisdiction over stablecoin regulation, including capital and liquidity requirements for risk management. The GENIUS Act itself requires stablecoins to be fully backed by U.S. dollars or similarly liquid assets and mandates annual audits for issuers with a market capitalization above $50 billion. The law also establishes guidelines for foreign issuance.
Gould framed the November target as execution on an existing law, not a speculative bet on what Congress might do next. Lawmakers have since turned to the Clarity Act, a broader crypto market-structure bill. That legislation has hit hurdles and appears unlikely to pass this year unless negotiations advance around Trump’s crypto conflicts of interest and the treatment of stablecoin rewards.
“We don’t know if or when or what may be the end result of that process, the Clarity Act that is,” Gould said. “What we have is the GENIUS Act. That’s been law for over a year now, and we need to execute on that.”
The exact date in November remains unspecified. Gould’s phrasing, “by November,” leaves open whether that is an internal target or a commitment tied to the Jan. 18 statutory deadline. Whether the other three agencies meet that deadline is not yet known; only the OCC has publicly committed to the November timeline.
In practice, a November final rule would give banks and stablecoin issuers roughly two months to prepare before the law takes effect. That is a narrow window for compliance teams reviewing capital, liquidity, and audit obligations.
