Block Applies to OCC for National Trust Bank Charter to Custody Bitcoin and Stablecoins
Block Applies to OCC for National Trust Bank Charter to Custody Bitcoin and Stablecoins #
Jack Dorsey’s payments company Block has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to charter a new institution called Builders Bank & Trust, N.A.
According to Block’s announcement on September 8, the proposed entity would be structured as an uninsured, non-depository national trust bank, meaning it would not accept customer deposits or make loans. Its core purpose would be providing custody and related fiduciary services for bitcoin, stablecoins, and other digital assets. Some of Block’s existing crypto-related activities are expected to fall under the new entity’s federal regulatory umbrella if the charter is approved.
A federal trust charter would allow Block to bring digital-asset custody in-house, reducing its dependence on partner banks and eliminating the need to maintain separate state-by-state licenses across the U.S. In a statement, Block said it “looks forward to working with the OCC as we pursue a charter designed to support the secure custody of assets for Block and its customers.”
Block’s filing arrives as demand for OCC charters has surged. The regulator, which has publicly committed to reinvigorating de novo chartering, received 40 new-bank applications in the 18 months leading up to August 2026, approaching the 48 it recorded across the entire 14-year period from 2011 through 2024. Of those 40 recent applications, 23 involved digital-asset activities.
Several high-profile digital asset firms received conditional OCC approvals in late 2025, including Ripple, Circle, Paxos, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets. More recently, Revolut received conditional approval to establish Revolut Bank US, N.A., with a targeted launch in the first half of 2027. A national trust charter does not automatically confer FDIC deposit insurance or access to Federal Reserve payment infrastructure, and Block’s proposed institution would similarly operate outside the deposit-insurance framework.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has questioned whether the OCC has the statutory authority under the National Bank Act to extend national trust charters to digital asset businesses for some of their proposed activities. The Bank Policy Institute and other traditional banking groups have also raised formal objections to the broader initiative.
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