Block, the payments company co-founded by Jack Dorsey, has applied for a United States trust bank charter. The proposed institution, to be called Builders Bank, would provide federally supervised custody of digital assets including Bitcoin ($BTC) and stablecoins, but would not accept deposits or issue loans.
The design strips the bank to a single function. By excluding deposits and loans, Builders Bank would shed the balance-sheet obligations that define a commercial bank while still operating under direct federal regulatory oversight. The result is a supervised holding structure for digital assets, purpose-built to do only that.
The choice of a trust charter rather than a full commercial banking license is a deliberate regulatory fit. Trust charters allow federally supervised custody without the capital and liquidity requirements that apply to deposit-taking institutions. For an entity built solely around holding assets, that framework matches the intended function.
That scope carries practical weight for institutional clients. Federal trust bank status brings a supervisory standard that state-chartered custodians do not replicate, and many institutional mandates require federally supervised custody before a digital asset qualifies for inclusion in managed portfolios.
The stablecoin scope sits alongside $BTC in the application, placing Builders Bank, if approved, as a custody venue across both segments of the digital asset market: the store-of-value side and the payment-utility side.
The application remains subject to federal review. Builders Bank is a proposed entity until regulators act, and the charter filing establishes Block's stated intent to hold digital assets under federal supervision on a custody-only basis.