U.S. regulators have finally shown their hand: stablecoin issuers can’t pay interest, but exchanges may be able to skirt the rules—and today, the OCC dropped the hammer.
On Wednesday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the final rules implementing the GENIUS Act. Issuers remain prohibited from paying interest directly to stablecoin holders.
But what about the loophole people have argued over all year—whether “rewards” paid to users by third-party platforms like Coinbase count as interest? The OCC’s answer is intriguing: no blanket ban, but no declaration that they’re legal either. Each case will be reviewed individually.
In plain English: Coinbase can, for now, keep offering USDC users an annualized yield of up to 3.5%.
Traditional banks’ average savings rate is just 0.38%. That nearly tenfold gap has banks seeing red.
That same day, American Bankers Association CEO Rob Nichols blasted the OCC, accusing it of undermining Congress and the legislative intent to protect community lending.
What I find interesting isn’t crypto—it’s human nature. Regulators say “case-by-case review,” but they’re holding the switch, with a firm grip on the blade.
Even more striking is one estimate: the U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee says high-yield stablecoins of this kind could pull as much as $6.6 trillion in deposits out of banks.
Banks have never really feared the technology. They fear what happens to the money.
The rules take effect on January 18, 2027, alongside the GENIUS Act. The Treasury Department will issue separate rules on anti-money laundering and sanctions.
My take: in the short term, this is good news for crypto; in the long term, it’s a slow bleed for banks. The deposit exodus is only just beginning.
Are you siding with the banks to “protect depositors,” or with the exchanges to “let money make money on its own”?
$USDC
#稳定币 #GENIUS Act
On Wednesday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the final rules implementing the GENIUS Act. Issuers remain prohibited from paying interest directly to stablecoin holders.
But what about the loophole people have argued over all year—whether “rewards” paid to users by third-party platforms like Coinbase count as interest? The OCC’s answer is intriguing: no blanket ban, but no declaration that they’re legal either. Each case will be reviewed individually.
In plain English: Coinbase can, for now, keep offering USDC users an annualized yield of up to 3.5%.
Traditional banks’ average savings rate is just 0.38%. That nearly tenfold gap has banks seeing red.
That same day, American Bankers Association CEO Rob Nichols blasted the OCC, accusing it of undermining Congress and the legislative intent to protect community lending.
What I find interesting isn’t crypto—it’s human nature. Regulators say “case-by-case review,” but they’re holding the switch, with a firm grip on the blade.
Even more striking is one estimate: the U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee says high-yield stablecoins of this kind could pull as much as $6.6 trillion in deposits out of banks.
Banks have never really feared the technology. They fear what happens to the money.
The rules take effect on January 18, 2027, alongside the GENIUS Act. The Treasury Department will issue separate rules on anti-money laundering and sanctions.
My take: in the short term, this is good news for crypto; in the long term, it’s a slow bleed for banks. The deposit exodus is only just beginning.
Are you siding with the banks to “protect depositors,” or with the exchanges to “let money make money on its own”?
$USDC
#稳定币 #GENIUS Act