Block Seeks National Crypto Custody Charter for Builders Bank
Block, the fintech company co-founded by Jack Dorsey, has submitted an application to create Builders Bank & Trust, N.A., a national trust bank designed specifically to custody Bitcoin and stablecoins.
The filing represents one of the most ambitious moves yet by a major publicly traded fintech company to bring crypto custody under a traditional banking framework. Block currently holds more than 50 state money-transmitter licenses to offer digital asset services, but a single national charter would collapse that regulatory complexity into one federal relationship.
Builders Bank & Trust would be an uninsured national trust bank, operating without deposits or loans. Its entire purpose would be custody and fiduciary services for digital assets, holding Bitcoin and stablecoins on behalf of clients under the fiduciary standards that come with a trust charter.
The headquarters would sit in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Lee Woolley, a banking veteran from Northern Trust and BNY Mellon, has been tapped as president and CEO. The bank's operations would not be backed by the FDIC, requiring clients to evaluate risk differently than they would with a deposit-taking institution.