Block applies to establish the National Trust Bank, Builders Bank, to custody Bitcoin and stablecoins

Jack Dorsey's payment company Block has applied to establish Builders Bank & Trust, N.A. If approved, the bank will become an uninsured national trust bank directly regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), focusing on providing custody and trust services for Bitcoin and stablecoins, without accepting deposits or issuing loans.

The application is still pending OCC approval, and the OCC's public list of digital asset license applications currently includes 11 pending applications (submitted between February 23 and August 19), which does not yet include Builders Bank. Previously, the OCC conditionally approved five national trust applications in December 2025, including Circle's First National Digital Currency Bank and Ripple, as well as conversion applications from BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos; Circle received final approval in July of this year.

The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), representing large banks, had previously opposed a series of limited-purpose national trust license applications, arguing that companies should not obtain trust licenses unless they plan to operate a true trust company, and warned against using the license as a lightly regulated pathway for bank-like products. Block stated that Builders Bank will not begin operations until it receives the necessary regulatory approvals.