Can stablecoins still pay interest?

Issuers can't. The Act bars them from paying holders any form of interest or yield solely for holding, using or retaining the stablecoin. Whether exchanges and other third parties can pay rewards is still open: the OCC's final rule of 21 October 2026 dropped its proposed presumption that some of those arrangements count as yield paid by the issuer, and it will review them through applications and supervision instead.

The wider picture

The key points from the guide this answer comes from:

  1. The GENIUS Act regulates stablecoin issuers and the platforms that sell stablecoins in the US. Holding or receiving them for your own business doesn't by itself bring you under it.
  2. It takes effect on 18 January 2027. From 18 July 2028, US platforms may only offer stablecoins from permitted or qualifying foreign issuers.
  3. The OCC issued the first final rule under the Act on 21 October 2026. The FDIC, Federal Reserve and Treasury rules are still outstanding.
  4. Issuers can't pay interest or yield on stablecoins. Whether exchanges and other third parties can pay rewards is still open.

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The full guide

The GENIUS Act regulates stablecoin issuers and the platforms that sell stablecoins to people in the US. Holding or receiving them for your own business doesn't by itself bring you under it. The dates that matter are 18 January 2027, when it takes effect, and 18 July 2028, when US platforms must stop offering stablecoins from issuers that haven't qualified.

Read The GENIUS Act: what non-US businesses need to know, with its sources.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and providers' terms change; check the sources in the guide and take advice on your own situation.

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