Wise Shifts Strategy for US Bank Charter Under GENIUS Act Framework

Update (July 25, 4:39 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from Wise.

Payments company Wise will change its strategy for seeking a bank charter from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to one “under a GENIUS Act framework,” the legislation to regulate stablecoins in the country. According to a Thursday notice from Wise, the company plans to submit a new application for a national trust bank charter under a GENIUS Act framework.

Investment banking group William Blair said that Wise will likely not shift its position on payment stablecoins with the new OCC application, despite being denied a charter to establish a national trust bank on Tuesday. “Wise is focused on lowering the cost of cross-border transactions, agnostic of the rail,” said William Blair on the move to apply under GENIUS.

The OCC said in its rejection that the company could not show it had an effective Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) compliance program and had “other illicit finance activity risks.”

The GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, offers a framework for payment stablecoin providers in the United States, pending finalized regulations to be approved by federal agencies. However, regulators missed a crucial deadline last week to provide guidance on implementation of the law before its effective date in January 2027.