The US yield-bearing stablecoin market has reached $22.7 billion and is expanding by roughly 11% per month, despite the GENIUS Act’s prohibition on payment stablecoin issuers directly paying interest or yield to holders. Crypto exchanges have built third-party programs that offer returns from platform revenue rather than directly from issuers. Coinbase offers approximately 3.5% APY on USDC through loyalty rewards, funded largely by its revenue-sharing partnership with Circle, while Kraken and Gemini offer rates above 3.75%. The structure relies on a distinction between issuer-paid yield and platform-funded rewards, although the underlying economics can include reserve income generated when issuers invest stablecoin collateral in Treasury bills. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency proposed rules in early 2026 that would treat coordinated issuer-affiliate yield payments as prohibited unless firms can convincingly show the arrangement is independent. The wider stablecoin supply exceeds $270 billion, with centralized issuers receiving most of the Treasury bill income generated by their reserves. Accounting treatment is also unsettled: under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, firms holding or distributing yield-bearing stablecoins must separate principal from earnings, while the Financial Accounting Standards Board is considering whether stablecoins should be classified as cash equivalents, intangible assets or another category. The uncertainty is increasing month-end reconciliation work for corporate treasury teams and creating tension with banks, which view exchange rewards as competition for deposits. Banks argue affiliate programs are functionally equivalent to interest payments, while crypto firms compare them with credit-card cashback rewards. OCC rulemaking expected to take shape through 2026 is set to influence which interpretation prevails.