The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, said it plans to publish final rules for payment stablecoins before November, giving the market a clearer timeline ahead of the GENIUS Act’s effective date in January 2027. Speaking at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium on Wednesday the 19th, OCC Comptroller Jonathan Gould said the agency is working toward finalizing its rulemaking after reviewing industry feedback on a 376-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released in February. He also said regulators are expected to begin accepting applications from stablecoin issuers as early as 2027. The timetable matters because the GENIUS Act, signed into law by Donald Trump in July 2025, requires agencies including the OCC, the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve to complete implementing rules by Jan. 18, 2027. So far, no federal agency has released a final rule. The article notes that the OCC could become the first federal banking regulator to complete the process if it meets its November target, while the final text will shape standards around 1:1 reserves, redemption commitments, capital, reporting and the long-debated question of whether stablecoins may pay interest.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is preparing to publish the final implementation rule for U.S. payment stablecoin legislation in November, according to Comptroller Jonathan Gould. Speaking at a blockchain symposium in Wyoming, Gould said the agency is completing the rulemaking process based on industry feedback to a proposal issued in February. That proposal ran 376 pages and was opened for public comment as part of the rollout of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act. The law was signed in July 2025 and is scheduled to take effect in January 2027. Gould also said the OCC expects to begin handling applications related to stablecoin issuers starting in 2027. Other U.S. agencies, including the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve Board, are also required to finish related rules before the law takes effect.

US Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will issue final rules for implementing the payment stablecoin law by November. He made the remarks at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium on Wednesday, saying the agency is reviewing feedback after publishing proposed rules in February. Gould also said the OCC could begin handling applications related to stablecoin issuers starting in 2027. The GENIUS Act was signed into law in July 2025 and is meant to build a US regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. It requires rules from agencies overseeing the products, including the OCC, Treasury Department, FDIC and the Federal Reserve Board. The OCC previously published a 376-page proposal in February, while agencies have until Jan. 18 to finalize regulations as the law takes effect. Several regulators had already sought public input, but final rules were still not released by July, leaving stablecoin issuers facing regulatory uncertainty.

A long-form piece published by TechFlowPost argues that crypto venture capital is not disappearing after the speculative boom. It is being repriced. The article says the market now shows a split between strong top-line industry data and weak early-stage liquidity: institutions hold more than $175 billion in crypto assets through exchange-traded products, onchain projects generated $11 billion in fees over the last 12 months, and the sector logged $8.6 billion in M&A plus 11 IPOs. Yet Galaxy Research data cited in the piece shows only eight new VC funds launched last quarter, the lowest level since 2020, while quarterly investment fell to $4 billion, or roughly $16 billion annualized, about half of 2021’s $31 billion pace. The authors trace the problem to a crypto funding model built around early token listings and quick liquidity rather than durable business value. They argue that many token models failed because projects lacked real business models and token holders had no legal claim on operating income. In their view, the industry is now moving toward structures that tie revenue to tokens, including buybacks, while also reopening other exit routes such as acquisitions and IPOs. The article identifies three sectors that have already reached sustainable product-market fit: stablecoins, prediction markets and onchain perpetuals. It also points to tokenized Treasuries, tokenized equities, machine payments, onchain credit and compliance infrastructure as areas where early-stage opportunities may now be forming. The broader conclusion is that crypto investing is shifting away from broad thematic betting and toward specialized, patient capital focused on business quality, regulation and long holding cycles.

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it will keep pushing to revive de novo bank chartering, describing new-bank formation as a priority and pointing to a fresh flow of applications after years of decline. The agency said it has received 40 de novo applications over the last 18 months and, in many cases, has made decisions within 120 days after receiving a complete filing. The shift matters for crypto. The OCC said entities engaged in legally permissible activities, including digital asset businesses, should have a path to becoming national banks. Ripple, Circle, Crypto.com and Paxos have already received conditional approval, while Coinbase remains under review. The structure would allow firms to hold client assets and handle trade settlement inside a federally regulated framework. The move has drawn pushback from traditional banking groups. The Independent Community Bankers of America urged the OCC to reject Coinbase’s national trust bank application, and the American Bankers Association asked the regulator to slow its review of crypto charter bids. According to the report, one major point of friction is stablecoins, with banks arguing that token-based rewards could weaken their deposit base.

A BlockTempo opinion piece by Wen Hongjun argues that bank licenses are turning into strategic assets as stablecoin legislation opens a legal path for tokenization and on-chain settlement in the United States. Citing figures attributed to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the article says the agency received 40 de novo bank applications in the past 18 months, compared with 48 across 2011 to 2024, while review times have shortened sharply in 2026. The piece contrasts three cases — Augustus, Erebor and Wise — to show what regulators appear to reward in the current cycle. Augustus reportedly won conditional approval in less than five months, Erebor rapidly gathered deposits after launch, while Wise was rejected for reasons the article says centered on AML gaps, management experience and risk controls rather than Federal Reserve account policy. It then shifts to the consumer-facing contest, pointing to Elon Musk’s X Money and Robinhood as two platforms competing to become the first financial touchpoint for younger users. The final thread is AI agents. With Robinhood’s agentic trading accounts already topping 100,000 according to the article, the author argues that future financial demand may favor rails that are always on, programmable and machine-readable — characteristics the piece associates with stablecoins.

Western Union is trying to do more than launch a branded stablecoin. The 175-year-old remittance company is building a cross-border payments stack around USDPT, a U.S. dollar stablecoin that went live on Solana on May 4, 2026. USDPT is issued and redeemed by Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A., with reserves backed by bank deposits, U.S. Treasuries, and cash equivalents, while Fireblocks provides wallet, settlement, and treasury infrastructure. The strategy has three layers. First, Western Union wants to use USDPT as a 24/7 settlement asset between itself and global agents, aiming to reduce idle prefunding balances across markets. Second, its Digital Asset Network is designed to connect compliant exchanges and custodians to Western Union’s liquidity and payment rails. Bybit is the first major crypto exchange to integrate USDPT, allowing eligible users in parts of Latin America to buy and sell the token through fiat channels. Third, consumer spending is handled through the Western Union Stablecard, built with Rain and supported by Visa. The card is live in 37 markets and is planned to expand to more than 60 by year-end. Western Union is not presenting USDPT as a government-backed digital dollar, and the company says the token is not issued, approved, or guaranteed by the U.S. government, nor covered by FDIC or other government deposit insurance. Its edge, for now, is less about competing head-on with USDT or USDC on on-chain liquidity, and more about tying a regulated stablecoin into a network that spans more than 200 countries and territories, supports nearly 130 currencies, and reaches hundreds of thousands of retail locations.

Wells Fargo said it will launch tokenized deposits for its corporate and commercial clients this fall, starting with a limited U.S. dollar-to-British pound use case for select customers. The bank plans to widen the service through 2027 to cover more clients, countries, and currencies. The product keeps deposit liabilities on blockchain rails while remaining inside the bank’s existing offering, so clients will not need a separate on-chain interface. Wells Fargo says the service is designed to improve the speed, timing, and flexibility of payments and may later add 24/7 settlement, smart-contract-based conditional payments, and the same regulatory protections and deposit insurance eligibility associated with its traditional deposit products. The bank did not name the blockchain behind the system or say whether it is permissioned or public. The launch comes as tokenized deposits draw closer scrutiny from U.S. regulators and as stablecoins continue to expand, though their size remains small relative to the broader U.S. banking deposit base.