Block, Inc., the financial services company led by Jack Dorsey, has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank called Builders Bank & Trust, N.A. The proposed institution, referred to as Builders Bank, is designed to provide custody and related fiduciary services for digital assets, including Bitcoin and stablecoins.
The application was announced on September 8. Under the proposed structure, Builders Bank would operate as an uninsured bank. It would not accept deposits or make loans. Instead, its focus would be on the secure custody of assets for Block and its customers.
Lee Woolley, who is set to serve as the bank's President and CEO, stated that the entity is positioned to support Block's broader vision of economic empowerment. Woolley cited Block's experience in the digital asset space, its history with Square Financial Services, and the banking expertise of the assembled team as key factors in the decision to pursue the charter. He noted that the company looks forward to working with the OCC on a charter designed to support secure asset custody.
In its application, Block reported that it has operated regulated digital asset services for approximately eight years. The company holds over 50 state licenses covering money transmission and virtual currency operations to facilitate its digital assets business. Block integrated Bitcoin into several of its products, including Cash App for Bitcoin investing, Bitkey for self-custody hardware wallets, Proto for Bitcoin mining, and Square for point-of-sale payments with Bitcoin functionality.
The company disclosed that it facilitated approximately $10.7 billion in annual Bitcoin transaction volume in fiscal year 2025 through offerings such as Cash App Bitcoin and Square Bitcoin. As of the second quarter of 2026, Block serves approximately two million digital-asset monthly transacting actives through Cash App.
During the initial three-year de novo period, a supervisory window during which newly chartered banks operate under heightened oversight, Block aims to offer custody of Bitcoin and other digital assets. The bank would also execute customer buy, sell, deposit, withdraw, and transfer orders for digital assets, along with stablecoin settlement and transfer services.
Following the announcement of the trust bank application, Block stock slipped more than 2 percent to trade at $78.20 at the time of reporting.