Jack Dorsey’s Block seeks OCC approval to establish national trust bank for Bitcoin, stablecoin custody

Block, the financial technology company founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, is seeking regulatory approval to establish Builders Bank & Trust, N.A., a national trust bank that would provide federally supervised custody and fiduciary services, including for Bitcoin and stablecoins, the company said Tuesday. Builders Bank would be led by Lee Woolley, Block’s digital asset strategy lead, who has more than two decades of banking and financial services experience. The OCC must approve the application before the bank can begin operations. “Building on Block’s experience in the digital asset space, our history with Square Financial Services, and the deep banking expertise of the team we’ve assembled, we believe Builders Bank is well positioned to support Block’s broader vision of economic empowerment,” Woolley said. The proposed bank would be uninsured and non-deposit-taking. Block said the national charter would provide a consistent federal framework as its custody business scales and would support the activities the company already offers. Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.