providing custodial or safekeeping services for payment stablecoins, reserves, or private keys of payment stablecoins, and
any activity that directly supports any of the foregoing activities.
In the Proposing Release, the OCC gives an example of the type of activity covered by the catch-all provision: a Stablecoin Issuer holding non-payment stablecoin crypto-assets as principal necessary for testing a distributed ledger, whether internally developed or acquired from a third- party. The OCC notes that such proprietary holdings by a Stablecoin Issuer directly support both issuance and redemption of payment stablecoins and is therefore permissible under the catch-all provision. The OCC encourages Stablecoin Issuers to ask the OCC directly if they are unclear as to whether an activity is permissible. Drawing on other statutory provisions, the Proposed Rules would also add the following to the list of permissible activities:
assessing fees associated with purchase or redemption of payment stablecoins,
acting as principal or agent with respect to any payment stablecoin, and
paying fees to facilitate customer transactions ( e.g., network or “gas” fees).
The OCC in the Proposing Release notes that Stablecoin Issuers may also engage in other activities that are independently authorized by other federal or state law ( e.g. , an uninsured national bank may engage in fiduciary, trust, and other related activities consistent with applicable law). 9
Prohibition on Payment of Interest or Yield
The Proposed Rules would meaningfully extend the prohibition on the payment of interest or yield on a payment stablecoin beyond the relevant provision in the GENIUS Act. Statutorily, the prohibition covers any payment of interest or yield (whether in cash, tokens, or other consideration) by a Stablecoin Issuer directly to a payment stablecoin “holder” solely in connection with the holding, use, or retention of such payment stablecoin. The Proposed Rules would go further to create a rebuttable presumption that deems a Stablecoin Issuer to be paying interest or yield to a payment stablecoin holder when: a Stablecoin Issuer has a contract, agreement, or arrangement with an affiliate or “related third-party” 10 to pay interest or yield to the affiliate or related third-party; and
the affiliate or related third-party (or affiliate of such related third-party) has a contract, agreement, or arrangement to pay interest or yield (whether in cash, tokens, or other
9 See, e.g. , OCC, Bulletin 2026-4, 91 FR 9977 (Feb. 27, 2026). 10
A “related third-party” would include any person paying interest or yield to payment stablecoin holders as a service ( i.e. , on behalf of the Stablecoin Issuer) and any person that the Stablecoin Issuer issues payment stablecoins on behalf or under the branding of ( i.e. , persons that have entered a white-label relationship with the Stablecoin Issuer). For the rest of this sub-section, affiliates and related third-parties may be simply referred to as “third-parties.”
March 2026 / Page 5
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