Overview
- Block filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Sept. 8 to create Builders Bank & Trust, a proposed national trust bank for bitcoin and stablecoin custody.
- Builders Bank is pitched as an uninsured, non‑deposit‑taking trust bank that would not accept customer deposits or make loans and would focus on custody and fiduciary services.
- Lee Woolley, Block’s digital asset strategy lead, is listed in the filing as the expected president and chief executive if the charter is approved.
- The application is under OCC review and cannot begin operations until Block meets the regulator’s pre‑opening conditions and any other required approvals.
- The move joins a broader wave of OCC trust charter requests that aim to replace state license complexity with one federal regulator and could expand institutional custody options given Block’s reported $10.7 billion in 2025 bitcoin volume and roughly two million monthly crypto users.