Block is applying to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form Builders Bank & Trust, N.A., an uninsured national trust bank under its jurisdiction that would focus on digital asset custody and fiduciary services. Approval would bring parts of Block’s bitcoin, stablecoin and other digital asset-related businesses under direct federal oversight.
It would not be a traditional commercial bank. According to Block, Builders Bank would not take in customer deposits or make loans to customers. Instead, its mandate would be custody and other fiduciary functions for assets like Bitcoin and stablecoins, using its national charter to provide regulatory uniformity as those services expanded.
Submission of an application does not authorize the bank to open, as Builders Bank cannot open for business until the proposal has been through the OCC’s review process, the OCC has issued its approval, and the bank has met any organizational requirements, as well as any conditions imposed, e.g., governance, capital, compliance, operational readiness.
Lee Woolley, currently Block’s Digital Asset Strategy Lead, is expected to serve as Builders Bank’s president and CEO. Woolley has been in the financial industry for more than 20 years, including as head of the Treasury Department Federal Credit Union. He also held senior positions at Northern Trust and BNY Mellon.
Block already has U.S. banking activity via Square Financial Services, an industrial bank licensed in 2021, although Builders Bank would be a standalone federally supervised bank focused on trust and custody activities.
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The application comes as crypto and fintech firms have increasingly sought national bank and trust charters from the OCC, which maintains a list of pending licensing applications from companies wanting to offer digital asset products or services.
Corporate Applications Search allows the public to search applications, status, and regulatory actions. When considering a national bank charter application, the OCC’s chartering process involves financial, supervisory, and legal analyzes.
As applied to digital asset applicants, a federal charter would subject approved trust activities to a single national framework, but would not convert a non-deposit-taking trust company into a retail depository institution and would not confer deposit insurance.
Other large digital asset firms, including Ripple, Circle, Paxos, BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets, received conditional approvals from the OCC in late 2025, with additional applicants entering the process through 2026.
Later, Circle would receive final approval to form a federally regulated national trust bank, a form of regulation above and beyond being a conditionally chartered bank.
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Block’s application is currently pending before the OCC, which can ask for more information, approve the application, impose conditions, or reject the application. The institution cannot begin operations as a national trust bank unless and until the regulator grants the charter and Builders Bank meets the requirements to commence banking operations.
