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BTC Payment company Block (parent of Square and Cash App) announced Tuesday that it has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a National Trust Bank license. The proposed Builders Bank & Trust will be an uninsured, non-deposit-taking institution that will neither take deposits nor make loans. Its business scope will include custody of bitcoin and other digital assets, execution of customer buy and sell orders with minimal risk, and stablecoin settlement. [TAG
Eight years of digital asset operation experience and vision for a national framework
The application documents show that Block has held currency carrier and virtual currency licenses in more than 50 states for the past eight years to conduct digital asset services. In 2025, its Bitcoin transaction volume will be approximately US$10.7 billion; as of the second quarter, the number of monthly crypto users served through the Cash App reached approximately 2 million. Block said obtaining a federal license will allow the company to support these activities based on a unified national framework as it expands its business.
Headquartered in South Dakota, Core Executive Background
Builders Bank will be headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and will have no branches. All five proposed directors live in other regions, and Block has asked the OCC to waive the requirement that "at least one director must live within 100 miles of the bank." Lee Woolley, who will serve as chairman and CEO, is currently head of digital asset strategy for Block and has previously served at Northern Trust and BNY Mellon.
Founder Joe Tsboro is not involved in day-to-day management
Jack Dorsey himself does not appear on the list of organizers, directors or senior managers, but is only listed in documents as a co-founder of Block. Business plans and capital data are submitted as confidential annexes and banks cannot open until they obtain OCC approval.
There is tension between the stablecoin business and Zsboro's philosophy
Although stablecoin settlement is included in the scope of banking, it does not fully align with Zsboro's personal philosophy. He has said that he has little interest in stablecoins and prefers to build an ecosystem based on Bitcoin.
Recent approval developments and industry disputes by OCC
In December last year, the OCC conditionally approved five crypto trust licenses, including Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos; in February this year, it approved three more, including Crypto.com and its subsidiary Bridge. Coinbase received preliminary approval in April, while applications from Morgan Stanley, Payoneer, Zerohash, Kraken's Payward and World Liberty Financial, which is associated with the Trump family, are still on the review list.
Approval is not automatic. In July this year, the OCC rejected Wise National Trust's application. In April of the same year, the OCC revised its licensing rules to change the scope of application from "entrusted activities" to "trust company operations and related activities," a wording that was the basis on which Block's application was based. The agency said the revision neither expanded nor narrowed its regulatory authority.
However, Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., argued that the OCC has no authority to grant trust licenses to financial institutions that do not engage in traditional fiduciary business. This view was opposed by the industry.
