As the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency crafts regulation to implement the Genius Act, it is seeking input from bankers and others on what form that regulation should take, Comptroller Jonathan Gould said today at the American Bankers Association’s Washington Summit.
The OCC last month released a nearly 400-page rule on how it would implement the Genius Act, including how it would handle the law’s prohibition on payment of interest on payment stablecoins. During a Q&A with ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols, Gould said its proposed regulation would “benefit tremendously” from public input.
“It is just a proposal,” Gould said. “I think we have done a good job as a first step in providing something that is intellectually defensible and consistent with what the statute says on a range of issues. So, again, the message I want to tell you is please weigh in because we need your substantive feedback.”
Gould also said that the OCC will defend preemption of federal law over state law, and not just for national banks but also state banks. He pointed to the OCC’s amicus brief in a lawsuit seeking to overturn a Colorado law capping interest rates and fees on loans to state residents. The agency argues that the law harms the ability of state-chartered banks to offer loans to consumers in other states. The FDIC has made a similar argument.
“There are a lot of states out there passing laws that compromise the ongoing vitality of nationwide markets, whether it’s mortgages or other forms of lending,” Gould said.
