Block Seeks OCC Charter for Uninsured Bitcoin and Stablecoin Custody Bank

Block has applied to establish Builders Bank & Trust, N.A., which, if approved, would be an uninsured national trust bank under direct federal supervision, the company said on Sept. 8.

The proposed bank would provide custody and related fiduciary services, including for bitcoin and stablecoins, under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Block separately said the charter would establish a federal framework for certain custody and related activities it already offers.

Builders Bank would not accept deposits or make loans. It would also be uninsured, limiting the proposed institution to a different model from a conventional deposit-taking lender.

The filing remains at the application stage. Block said it is subject to OCC review and approval, and that Builders Bank would not begin operating until it receives the required regulatory approvals. At the reporting cutoff, the OCC's public digital-assets table listed applications received through Aug. 19 and did not yet include Builders Bank.

Block Enters the OCC Charter Pipeline

The OCC table contained 11 pending digital-asset licensing applications received between Feb. 23 and Aug. 19. That list follows the agency's conditional approval of five national trust bank applications in December 2025: new charters for Circle's First National Digital Currency Bank and Ripple, and conversions for BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos.

Circle said in July that it had received final OCC approval to establish its trust bank, which would provide digital-asset custody and was designed to eventually manage USDC reserves, as The Defiant reported. Block is now seeking approval for its own federally supervised trust bank, with a stated focus on custody and fiduciary services including bitcoin and stablecoins.

The Bank Policy Institute, which represents large banks, has opposed a series of earlier limited-purpose national trust applications. BPI argued that companies should not receive trust charters unless they plan to operate genuine trust companies, and warned against using the charter as a lighter regulatory route for bank-like products.

BPI's objections predate Block's application and do not assess Builders Bank. Block's next step is the OCC review: the company said Builders Bank will not commence operations unless and until it receives the required regulatory approvals.