Builders Bank & Trust

Block, the parent of Cash App and Square, filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter Builders Bank & Trust, N.A., an uninsured national trust bank based in Sioux Falls. It would custody Bitcoin and other digital assets and settle stablecoins, but take no deposits and make no loans. Lee Woolley, Block's digital asset strategy lead, would serve as CEO.

The point is consolidation: Block currently runs its Bitcoin business across more than 50 state money-transmitter and virtual-currency licences. One federal supervisor replaces that patchwork. Bitcoin generated roughly 45% of Cash App's revenue last year. The OCC has not set a public timeline; recent approvals have taken anywhere from a few months to over 200 days.

ETF flows turn

After three weeks of accumulation, US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a $46.6 million net outflow on Tuesday. Grayscale's GBTC lost $65.5 million and Fidelity's FBTC $17.1 million, while IBIT still added $10.7 million. Bitcoin traded near $78,500.

Corporate treasuries split

Strive bought 1,375 BTC for $109 million at an average of $79,281, bringing its holdings to 24,531. France's Capital B added 376 BTC. Strategy, by contrast, paused Bitcoin purchases and used $176.3 million to retire STRC preferred stock, with its board raising the share-repurchase limit to $2 billion.

The crypto banking wave

Block joins Circle (final OCC approval in July), plus Ripple, Paxos, BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets (conditional approvals), and last week's OpenReserve and Revolut. Crypto companies are not just partnering with banks anymore; they are becoming them.

Why this matters

A federal charter governs supervision, not price, and "uninsured" means no FDIC backstop. But for a company holding customer Bitcoin at scale, one national rulebook is a meaningful cost and credibility upgrade.