The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency plans to finalize its GENIUS Act rules for payment stablecoins by November 2026, Comptroller Jonathan V. Gould said on August 19. The rule would place federally issued payment stablecoins within the OCC’s supervisory perimeter and cover issuance, reserves, redemption, risk management, audits, reporting, custody and state-to-federal transitions. The target comes after the law’s July 18, 2026 deadline for implementing regulations, although it would still precede the GENIUS Act’s January 18, 2027 effective-date window. State-qualified issuers with more than $10 billion in outstanding issuance would have 360 days to enter the federal framework or stop issuing new payment stablecoins, unless granted a waiver. The OCC said 23 of 40 new bank charter applications received over roughly the last 18 months involved digital-asset activity. At the time of research, the crypto Fear & Greed Index stood at 62, while USDC traded at $0.999818 with a market capitalization of roughly $72.9 billion.