EL7.AI
StocksMediumUpdated×2•Originally published 8 September 2026•Updated 8 September 2026•
2 min read

Block Seeks National Trust Bank Charter for Bitcoin and Stablecoin Custody

Key Facts

1Block submitted the application to the OCC on September 8, 2026.
2Builders Bank would be an uninsured national trust bank that would neither accept deposits nor make loans.
3The proposed scope includes custody and related fiduciary services for bitcoin and stablecoins.
4The entity will not begin operating before receiving the required regulatory approvals.

Block said on September 8, 2026, that it applied to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Builders Bank & Trust, N.A. as an uninsured national trust bank. If approved, the entity would provide custody and related fiduciary services, including for bitcoin and stablecoins.

The proposed Builders Bank would neither accept deposits nor make loans. The application therefore concerns a limited-purpose trust institution focused on custody and related fiduciary functions under federal supervision, not a conventional commercial bank.

Block said the charter would place certain custody and related activities it currently offers within a consistent federal supervisory framework. The company expects the national trust bank structure to support those activities as the business scales.

Submitting the application does not mean Block has secured a charter. The filing remains subject to OCC review and approval, and Builders Bank cannot begin operating until it receives the required regulatory clearances. The OCC says its licensing teams analyze charter filings with its legal and supervisory divisions before deciding them.

Block selected Lee Woolley, its Digital Asset Strategy Lead, to serve as president and chief executive of the proposed entity. The company said he has more than 20 years of banking and financial-services experience, including leadership of Treasury Department Federal Credit Union and senior roles at Northern Trust and BNY Mellon.

The verified development is the opening of a path to federal supervision for custody activities—not final approval or an expansion by Block into deposit-taking and lending. OCC review and the required regulatory clearances remain the next steps before the proposed entity can begin operating.