TLDR

• EDX Markets has applied for a national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
• The charter would allow the company to offer regulated custody, asset management, and principal trading services.
• The exchange plans to separate custody and settlement functions from its trading operations.
• Chief executive Tony Acuña-Rohter said the trust charter would help serve institutional clients.
• The move follows conditional trust charter approvals granted to Circle and Ripple in December.

EDX Markets has filed for a national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The application would allow the crypto exchange to expand custody and settlement services under federal oversight. The move marks a direct step toward deeper integration with the US banking system.

Citadel-Backed Platform Seeks Federal Trust Status

EDX Markets submitted its application on April 1, according to public filings. The company seeks approval to operate as a national trust bank under OCC supervision. The charter would permit custody, asset management, and principal trading within a regulated structure.

The exchange stated that the new structure would separate custody and settlement from trading functions. It argued that combining brokerage, exchange, and custody roles creates conflicts and operational risk. Therefore, it aims to align its operations with traditional financial market models.

EDX Markets operates an institutional crypto platform backed by Citadel Securities and other financial firms. The company said the trust charter would strengthen safeguards for client assets. It added that federal supervision would support secure custody and settlement systems.

Chief executive Tony Acuña-Rohter said large banks will shape the next stage of digital asset adoption. He stated, “Obtaining a trust charter positions us to meet institutional demand for regulated custody.” He added that the structure supports clients requiring compliant asset management services.

The company maintained that the trust model reflects established practices in equities and derivatives markets. In those markets, exchanges, brokers, custodians, and market makers operate separately. EDX Markets said this separation limits conflicts between trade execution and asset custody.

Application Reflects Policy Shift Toward Digital Assets

The filing comes as federal regulators show greater openness to crypto firms entering the banking system. Several companies have sought national trust charters in recent months. Regulators have reviewed these applications under existing banking laws.

In December, regulators granted conditional approvals to Circle Internet Group and Ripple. Those approvals allowed both firms to pursue trust bank operations under federal supervision. The decisions placed custody and asset management within the regulatory perimeter.

EDX Markets stated that its proposed structure would reduce systemic risk across crypto platforms. It said separating custody and trading functions strengthens protections for client funds. The firm emphasized that regulated settlement systems improve operational transparency.

Founded in 2022, EDX Markets built its platform for institutional investors entering digital assets. Backers include Citadel Securities, Virtu Financial, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Hudson River Trading. The exchange designed its order-matching system to mirror traditional market infrastructure.

National trust banks can hold client assets and manage portfolios under OCC oversight. They can also provide fiduciary and custody services within federal rules. EDX Markets confirmed that it will continue operating its existing order-matching platform during the review process.

Block co-founder Jack Dorsey and the company’s lead independent director, Roelof Botha, have laid out a forward-looking vision in which artificial intelligence could fundamentally change how work is coordinated. In a blog post published this week, they describe a model where AI would take on the tasks typically handled by middle managers—tracking projects, flagging issues, assigning work, and sharing critical information faster than human processes allow.

The post comes on the heels of Block’s previously reported workforce restructuring, part of a broader wave of AI-driven cost-cutting across the tech sector. Block disclosed that it cut roughly 4,000 jobs in February, an action Dorsey attributed to the rapid pace of AI adoption and the need to stay competitive. In March, some of the employees who had been laid off were quietly rehired, illustrating a cautionary approach to the current wave of optimization. The blog authors emphasize that AI’s role in the new model is evolving, not yet fully realized, and that Block remains in the “early stages” of testing how an intelligence-centric structure could function in practice.

“We’re questioning the underlying assumption: that organizations have to be hierarchically organized with humans as the coordination mechanism. Instead, we intend to replace what the hierarchy does. Most companies using AI today are giving everyone a copilot, which makes the existing structure work slightly better without changing it. We’re after something different: a company built as an intelligence, or mini-AGI.”

Key takeaways

• Block’s leadership proposes replacing traditional hierarchical management with an intelligence-driven framework that leverages AI to coordinate work and decision-making.
• The envisioned structure redefines roles around three pillars: individual contributors, directly responsible individuals, and player-coaches who mentor while continuing to contribute technically.
• AI would enable real-time visibility into what’s being built, what’s blocked, resource allocation, and overall product performance, potentially speeding up information flow beyond conventional managerial channels.
• Despite the AI emphasis, human involvement remains central to strategic and ethical decisions, signaling a blended governance approach rather than a pure automation model.

From hierarchy to intelligence: Block’s strategic shift

The core idea articulated by Dorsey and Botha is a pivot away from the familiar pyramid where instructions travel up and down through layers of management. In a remote-first, machine-readable environment, AI would continuously build and maintain a live picture of organizational activity: what’s in development, what’s blocked, where resources are needed, and what outcomes are proving effective or failing. The authors describe the aim as moving beyond “copilot” enhancements to a more transformative design—an organization that operates as an intelligence rather than a traditional hierarchy.

They emphasize that the pattern could reshape corporate operation across sectors, not just within Block. The argument rests on a simple premise: information flow drives speed and adaptability. If AI can handle the coordination overhead more efficiently than humans, the bottlenecks created by layers of management could recede, enabling faster iteration and more responsive leadership decisions.

To illustrate the proposed shift, Block outlines a three-tier talent model. Individual contributors would be responsible for building and maintaining the operating systems that power the company’s workflows. Directly responsible individuals would tackle specific problems and be empowered to marshal any resources necessary to resolve them. Between these layers, player-coaches would assume manager-like duties—mentoring and supporting others—while continuing to contribute code and substantive work themselves. In this arrangement, the traditional gatekeeping function of middle management would be distributed and augmented by AI-enabled visibility and automation.

People still in the driver’s seat

Even as AI takes on coordination tasks, Dorsey and Botha stress that human judgment remains indispensable. They acknowledge that AI can process information at a scale and speed far beyond human capability, but key business and ethical decisions will continue to require human insight. The blog notes that while AI can present a continuously updated view of operations, it cannot substitute for the values, prudence, and accountability that guide corporate governance.

This stance sits at an important crossroads for investors and workers alike. The acceleration of AI-driven restructuring has historically raised questions about job security, morale, and the long-term viability of new organizational paradigms. Block’s own experience—balancing a major layoff with later rehiring of some affected employees—illustrates a cautious, iterative approach rather than a speculative leap into a fully automated future. The authors’ framing suggests a model where AI acts as a force multiplier for human capabilities, rather than replacing people wholesale.

Why it matters for crypto-adjacent ventures

The broader crypto and fintech sectors have watched Block (the company behind the Cash App and a notable crypto-friendly stance) as a bellwether for technology-enabled financial services. If an AI-first, intelligence-driven corporate structure gains traction, it could influence how other blockchain and payments firms think about product development cycles, regulatory compliance, and governance practices. The potential impact extends to how quickly teams can respond to security risks, how product roadmaps are validated in real time, and how cross-functional collaboration is organized in a hybrid or fully remote environment.

From an investor perspective, the shift raises questions about how governance, risk controls, and performance metrics would be managed in an AI-augmented organization. Real-time visibility into development pipelines and resource allocation could improve transparency, but it also heightens sensitivity to data quality, AI oversight, and ethical considerations in automated decision-making. As with any large-scale adoption of AI in corporate governance, the outcomes will hinge on guardrails, accountability, and the ongoing calibration of human-in-the-loop processes.

Block’s announcement aligns with a wider industry conversation about whether AI can augment, or even replace, certain managerial functions. While the blog presents a staged, experimental path toward an intelligent enterprise, observers will be watching to see whether early pilots yield tangible improvements in productivity, risk management, and employee engagement. The balance between speed and governance will be particularly telling in sectors where regulatory scrutiny and customer trust are paramount.

What to watch next

The immediate questions center on execution and governance. How quickly will Block move from a conceptual framework to concrete organizational changes? What criteria will the company use to assess the success of its AI-driven coordination model? And how will Block address potential pitfalls, such as algorithmic bias, data silos, or accountability for automated decisions?

As AI continues to redefine work patterns across the technology landscape, Block’s approach could foreshadow a broader shift in corporate design. If the model proves adaptable and beneficial, it may prompt other firms to experiment with similar intelligence-driven structures, especially in environments that prize rapid iteration and remote collaboration.

Readers should monitor Block’s forthcoming updates and pilot implementations to gauge whether the vision moves from theory to practice and how those developments influence investor confidence, employee experience, and the broader discourse around AI-enabled governance.

Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Drift said it is investigating “unusual activity” on its protocol, prompting concerns that the platform may have been exploited.

“We are observing unusual activity on the protocol. We are currently investigating. Please do not deposit funds into the protocol while we investigate,” Drift wrote in a post on X. “This is not an April Fools joke. Proceed with caution until further notice. We’ll provide additional updates from this account.”

The warning triggered speculation across the crypto community, with some users reporting irregular behavior tied to their positions.

Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz added to the concern in a separate X post, writing, “not 100% fully certain yet, but it seems drift might be getting exploited.” Helius is a key infrastructure provider on Solana, offering APIs and node services that developers and platforms rely on to access blockchain data.

If confirmed, an exploit could affect user funds and add pressure on Solana’s DeFi ecosystem, which has seen renewed growth in recent months.