The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has released a 376-page proposal to implement the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, setting out operational rules for federally supervised payment stablecoin issuers.
Under the draft rule, issuers would be prohibited from paying any form of interest or yield on payment stablecoins, whether in cash, tokens or other consideration, solely in connection with holding or using the stablecoin.
The proposal also introduces a rebuttable presumption that issuers violate the yield ban if they route payments through affiliates or related third parties that then distribute rewards to stablecoin holders, framing such structures as highly likely attempts to evade the statute.
Two carve-outs are included, clarifying that merchants may independently offer discounts for stablecoin payments and that issuers may share profits with non-affiliate partners in certain white-label arrangements.
The rule stems from the GENIUS Act, enacted in July 2025, which created a federal framework restricting US payment stablecoin issuance to licensed entities such as bank subsidiaries and designated federal or large state-regulated issuers.
If finalised as drafted, the rule could influence the separate Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 debate by establishing a no-yield baseline at the issuer level, potentially narrowing the scope for rewards on regulated payment stablecoins.
For companies such as Coinbase, which have advocated for the ability to offer yield on stablecoin balances within a regulated framework, the proposal signals a firm regulatory boundary between GENIUS-compliant payment stablecoins and yield-bearing products.
The proposal is open for public comment for 60 days, after which the OCC may revise or finalise the rule, shaping how stablecoin economics operate under US banking supervision.