U.S. banks have until May 1 to submit views on the direction of stablecoin regulation.

Blockchain outlet BeInCrypto reported on April 26 that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's deadline for public comments on the GENIUS bill has emerged as a turning point for whether banks and corporate treasury organisations adopt stablecoins as payment infrastructure.

The proposal is in the final stage of a 60-day public comment process that began on Feb. 25. The OCC detailed reserve standards, custody rules, capital requirements and supervisory authority in a 376-page draft. A key point is that it splits licensing by issuance size. Issuers with more than $10 billion of stablecoins in circulation must obtain federal approval. Smaller operators can run under state-level regimes certified by the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

It is also notable that the regulatory burden is centred on issuers. The structure requires stablecoin issuers to directly shoulder reserve, capital and custody obligations, rather than payment network operators or merchants. This distinction intersects with discussions of corporate adoption. The market has pointed to legal uncertainty as a bigger hurdle than merchant acceptance.

Investor Abhinav Kumar (아비나브 쿠마르) viewed the OCC proposal as potentially filling that gap. He said companies are set to receive an official answer at the level of a national bank regulator to the regulatory uncertainty that has kept corporate treasury teams from using stablecoins as a primary payment method. He also argued that once an OCC framework is established, legal counsel memos would effectively become standardised documents.

A survey found that demand among companies is already forming. An EY-Parthenon survey found that 13 percent of financial institutions and companies worldwide are already using stablecoins. Among those not yet using them, 54 percent said they plan to adopt within 6 to 12 months. Kumar said companies ready to meet that demand would gain a structural advantage that would be hard to replicate even after 18 months.

There is also a possibility it will take more time before final rules are announced. The American Bankers Association asked for 60 more days to review the proposal. That signals a final version may not be issued immediately even if the comment period ends on May 1.

Factors surrounding the Federal Reserve leadership are also in play. Senator Thom Tillis said he would support Kevin Warsh's confirmation to the Federal Reserve after the Justice Department ends a probe related to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He said a criminal investigation into Powell posed a serious threat to the Federal Reserve's independence, and welcomed the end of the probe, which he said was a condition for his support.

The issue is also tied to the implementation of stablecoin policy. The Federal Reserve, together with the Treasury and the FDIC, is tasked with certifying state-level stablecoin regimes. As a result, the Federal Reserve leadership and policy direction could affect how a federal stablecoin framework operates in practice going forward.

A key point of the proposal is that it concentrates regulatory responsibility on issuers rather than payment network operators or merchants. For companies, whether the structure of legal responsibility is clarified before technology adoption has been a key issue, and the OCC's final judgment is becoming a process that sets that baseline.