The rulebook for US dollar stablecoins is finally taking shape. On October 21, 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the federal agency that supervises national banks, issued the first GENIUS Act final rule for stablecoin issuers.
The rule takes effect on January 18, 2027, the same day the law itself kicks in. Here is what the GENIUS Act final rule requires, what is still unfinished, and what the GENIUS Act 2027 deadline means for everyday stablecoin users.
GENIUS Act Explained: What the Law Actually Does
Before getting into the new rule, here is the GENIUS Act explained in simple terms.
The GENIUS Act, short for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, became law in July 2025 as the first federal framework built specifically for payment stablecoins. A payment stablecoin is a digital token designed for payments that the issuer must redeem for a fixed amount of money, usually one dollar.
Under the law, only approved permitted payment stablecoin issuers can issue these tokens through one of three routes: a bank subsidiary, a nonbank approved by the OCC, or a smaller issuer under $10 billion supervised by a state.
Issuers must back every token one-to-one, report reserves monthly, and give holders first claim on reserves if the issuer fails. The law also treats compliant payment stablecoins as neither securities nor commodities, which places them under banking regulators.
What the GENIUS Act Final Rule Changes
The OCC’s GENIUS Act final rule covers national banks, federal savings associations, approved nonbank issuers, foreign issuers, and certain state issuers under its oversight. Most requirements sit in a new section of federal banking rules called 12 CFR Part 15, and it is the only federal GENIUS Act rule to reach final status so far.
The final version departs from the earlier proposal in how it treats stablecoin rewards. The proposal presumed that some reward arrangements involving affiliates or third parties broke the law, but the final rule drops that presumption and leaves the OCC to judge each arrangement on its facts.
The rule also eases some operational demands. The OCC lowered the minimum daily liquidity requirement from 10% to 5% of reserve assets, and an issuer facing unusually heavy redemptions must notify its regulator within 24 hours and may then request more time.
GENIUS Act Stablecoin Requirements for Issuers
The core GENIUS Act stablecoin requirements focus on what backs each token. Reserves must consist only of approved assets such as cash, insured bank deposits, Treasury bills maturing within 93 days and government money market funds, with exposure to any single counterparty generally capped at 40%.
Redemption follows a firm clock. Issuers must complete redemptions within two business days and cannot set their own discretionary withdrawal limits, and they must publish a redemption policy explaining the process.
Transparency and capital rules round out the framework. Issuers must post their reserve mix monthly, file confidential weekly reports starting January 25, 2027, and hold at least $5 million in capital plus a backstop covering 12 months of expenses.
Issuers also cannot pay interest or yield to holders simply for holding a stablecoin, and the final rule keeps that ban while giving existing rewards programs no automatic approval. Each rewards arrangement will be reviewed case by case.
The GENIUS Act 2027 Deadline and What Is Still Pending
The law takes effect on the earlier of 18 months after signing or 120 days after regulators finalize their rules, which makes January 18, 2027 the GENIUS Act 2027 deadline. From that date, issuing a payment stablecoin in the US without a federal or state license becomes unlawful. For issuers under OCC supervision, that means meeting the GENIUS Act stablecoin requirements above from day one.
Several pieces remain unfinished. The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and Treasury are still working through their own proposed GENIUS Act rules, and not all of them are expected to be final by January. The OCC also says anti-money laundering and sanctions rules will come in a separate rulemaking with Treasury, and it has not yet announced when issuer applications will open.
A second deadline follows later. Starting July 18, 2028, platforms can no longer offer US users stablecoins that did not come from a licensed issuer. Foreign issuers have a separate path if Treasury finds their home rules comparable and they register with the OCC.
Some expected the broader CLARITY Act market structure bill to revise parts of the GENIUS Act, including rewards. That bill stalled after failing a Senate procedural vote, so regulators are applying the GENIUS Act as originally written.
What the GENIUS Act Means for Stablecoin Users
With the GENIUS Act explained from a user’s point of view, the biggest changes are clearer reserve reporting and firm redemption timelines from licensed issuers. That matters because stablecoins are already a large market, with total stablecoin market value above $300 billion.
Issuers are already preparing. Tether, for example, launched USAT in January 2026 as a separate US-regulated stablecoin, and BTSE added the USAT stablecoin listing that same month.
The rewards question remains contested. Bank groups argue that third-party rewards work as a loophole around the issuer yield ban and could pull money out of bank deposits. Crypto firms counter that the law only restricts issuers, and the industry has read the GENIUS Act as allowing platform rewards programs.
Critics also say the compliance burden could favor large incumbents over smaller issuers. It also helps to remember that stablecoins are built for price stability rather than income, a difference explained in our guide to RWA tokenization and real-world asset yield.
How to Trade Stablecoins on BTSE
Stablecoins remain a core tool for moving between markets and managing volatility as the new rules roll out.
You can create a BTSE account and access the USDT-USD spot trading pair on BTSE’s spot market.
Before trading, review the BTSE trading fees and withdrawal limits that apply to stablecoin pairs. Stablecoins still carry risks, including issuer, regulatory, and depeg risk, so it is worth understanding them before you trade.
