OCC Moves to Ban Stablecoin Yield Under GENIUS Act

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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has unveiled a sweeping 376-page proposal to implement the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), and it directly addresses one of crypto’s biggest debates: stablecoin yield. Under the draft rule, federally supervised payment stablecoin issuers would be strictly prohibited from offering any form of interest or yield — whether in cash, tokens, or other incentives — simply for holding or using a stablecoin.

The proposal also targets workaround structures. If an issuer pays yield to an affiliate that then passes it on to stablecoin holders, the OCC would presume that arrangement violates the law unless proven otherwise. While merchants can still offer independent discounts and certain whitelabel profit-sharing models remain allowed, the message is clear: GENIUS-compliant stablecoins are not meant to function like interest-bearing accounts. The rule is now open for public comment for 60 days.

[johnblockbuster]

crypto spent a decade reinventing banking just for regulators to say congrats you built a checking account