For three days in Las Vegas, the sessions I recorded kept returning to one question: when money moves itself, who carries the risk? Day one asked it about stablecoins and AI agents. Day two showed the industry writing its own answers into standards, certificates and code. On Wednesday, the closing half-day, a regulator wrote part of the answer down. A few hours before the Money Hall opened for the last time, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) became the first agency to finalise its rule under the GENIUS Act.

The OCC’s rule sets out how banks and non-bank companies can become permitted payment stablecoin issuers. Issuers must hold reserves that fully back the coins in circulation and will generally have to meet redemptions within two business days, with standards for custody, capital, audit and foreign issuers alongside. It takes effect in January, and the regulator will say separately when it starts accepting applications. Anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations are left to later rulemaking with the Treasury.

The argument that follows will be about yield. The rule keeps the ban on issuers paying holders interest simply for holding a stablecoin, but it drops the proposal’s presumption that certain arrangements with affiliates and third parties are attempts to get round that ban. The OCC will judge rewards programmes case by case and keeps the power to act against evasion. Comptroller Jonathan Gould called it a clear, practical framework. Banks see a door left open for platforms to pay rewards that draw deposits away from community lenders, and the American Bankers Association was quick to criticise the rule, The Block reported.

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