The dispute centers on the law’s ban on issuers paying interest or yield solely because someone holds, uses or retains a payment stablecoin. The OCC removed a proposed rebuttable presumption that certain arrangements involving affiliates or related third parties would violate that prohibition.
That approach leaves stablecoin issuers barred from paying holders directly, but may allow exchanges and other intermediaries to provide interest-like rewards in some circumstances. The final framework does not define “interest” or “yield”; it says payments made through intermediaries for reasons beyond simply holding or using a stablecoin, and some transaction-based payments, may fall outside the ban depending on the facts. The OCC said it may pursue additional guidance or future rulemaking as it gains experience with the market.
The American Bankers Association said the final rule contained positive provisions but argued that removing the presumption created a route for economically equivalent rewards to avoid the statutory restriction. The group said the change could blur the line between payment stablecoins and bank deposits and put at risk funds that banks use for lending. The Bank Policy Institute made a similar criticism, warning that the omission created ambiguity and could expose banks and customers to deposit flight.
Crypto industry advocates supported the narrower approach, saying it tracks the statutory text more closely. Independent financial-market critics also objected to the possibility that crypto platforms could perform bank-like functions without equivalent deposit-insurance protections. The practical stakes are tied to the interest earned on reserves, which can include bank deposits and U.S. Treasuries, and to whether platforms can pass some of that income to customers.
The agency eased some proposed reserve and liquidity requirements but retained standards for timely redemption, stress testing, capital and an operational backstop. The OCC has not yet announced when it will begin accepting applications and waiver requests, and other federal regulators are continuing their own GENIUS Act implementation work.