Block, the payments company founded by Jack Dorsey, has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish an uninsured, non-deposit-taking national trust bank called Builders Bank & Trust, N.A. If approved, the institution would offer custodial and fiduciary services for bitcoin and stablecoins, bringing a portion of Block's existing digital asset activities under a single federal regulatory framework.
Lee Woolley, the proposed president and CEO of Builders Bank, stated that the initiative aims to support Block's broader vision of economic empowerment through digital asset experience and Square Financial Services. National trust bank charters provide a federal umbrella for cryptocurrency companies, helping navigate state regulations and offering institutional clients the oversight they often require to use regulated counterparties.
The application arrives amid a broader trend of charter requests involving digital assets. According to the OCC, 23 out of 40 new-bank charter applications filed over an 18-month period involved digital-asset activity. Comptroller Jonathan Gould noted that these initiatives have increased significantly over the past four years, reflecting a stronger foothold for cryptocurrency in regulated banking.
National trust banks differ from commercial banks because they do not take deposits or make loans, operating instead under approved fiduciary and other powers. This distinction has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who raised concerns in a May letter regarding whether trust charters adequately cover the safeguards associated with traditional banking.
The charter developments coincide with the GENIUS Act, enacted in July 2025, which has led the OCC to propose implementation rules covering reserves, redemption, custody, and risk management. Meanwhile, international bodies such as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund have highlighted that wider adoption of dollar stablecoins and tokenization could accelerate cross-border capital flows and impact monetary sovereignty globally.
