BitGo
BitGo is an American digital asset custody and infrastructure company founded in 2013 by Mike Belshe. It offers custody, wallets, staking, trading, financing, stablecoin and settlement services, and its subsidiary BitGo Bank & Trust, National Association, is a national trust bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the CurrencyOffice of the Comptroller of the CurrencyThe Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is an independent U.S. Treasury bureau that supervises national banks and other institutions.Open the full entry. The company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BTGO in January 2026 and is the custodian and infrastructure provider for World Liberty FinancialWorld Liberty FinancialWorld Liberty Financial is a crypto finance venture launched in September 2024, co-founded by members of the families of US President Donald Trump and Steve Witkoff, among others; it issues the governance token WLFI and offers the US dollar stablecoin USD1 as its main product. Over the Trump family’s large income from token sales, foreign investors taking stakes, and regulatory approvals, it has faced ongoing conflict-of-interest questions from members of the US Congress and ethics watchdogs; the company and the White House have denied any wrongdoing.Open the full entry’s USD1 stablecoin.
Contents8 sections
Key facts
2013Founding
BitGo was founded in 2013 and grew into one of the largest crypto custodians in the United States.[1]
The company’s website says BitGo was the first to commercialize multi-signature wallets.[2]
2021–2022Galaxy Deal Terminated and Lawsuit
In May 2021 Galaxy DigitalGalaxy DigitalGalaxy Digital (Galaxy Digital Inc., Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange: GLXY) is a New York-based digital asset financial services and data center infrastructure company founded by Mike Novogratz, which says it was founded in 2018. It provides institutional clients with digital asset trading, lending, investment banking, asset management, staking, and custody technology services, and is building data centers in Texas for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.Open the full entry announced a $1.2 billion acquisition of BitGo; in August 2022 Galaxy terminated the deal on the grounds that BitGo had not delivered audited 2021 financial statements by July 31. In September 2022 BitGo sued Galaxy for breach in the Delaware Court of Chancery, seeking more than $100 million in damages.[3]
BitGo said Galaxy’s refusal to pay a $100 million reverse break fee was improper; R. Brian Timmons, a lawyer representing BitGo, called the attempt to blame the termination on BitGo “absurd.”[4]
December 2024Distribution Agent for FTX
In December 2024 the bankrupt exchange FTXFTXFTX was a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang that operated FTX.com, moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas in 2021 and was valued at $32 billion in January 2022. In November 2022 it filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection amid a liquidity crisis, and Bankman-Fried was later convicted of fraud and related charges. Its reorganization plan took effect in January 2025, after which the FTX Recovery Trust began paying creditors in stages.Open the full entry announced that its reorganization plan would take effect on January 3, 2025, and named Kraken and BitGo as distribution agents, with BitGo helping to distribute recoveries to retail and institutional customers.[5]
September 2025Public IPO Filing
BitGo’s IPO registration statement, filed publicly in September 2025, showed 2024 revenue of about $3.08 billion and net income of about $157 million, and disclosed that BitGo is the custodian and infrastructure provider for World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin.[6]
December 2025National Trust Bank Approval
In December 2025 BitGo, alongside Ripple and Circle, received approval for a U.S. federal banking charter.[1]
January 2026NYSE Listing
On January 21, 2026, BitGo Holdings priced its initial public offering at $18 per share for 11,821,595 shares of Class A common stock, 11,026,365 of them offered by the company and the rest by existing stockholders; the shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange the next day under the ticker BTGO.[7]
The price was above the marketed range of $15 to $17, raising about $212.8 million and implying a valuation of more than $2 billion.[1]
October 29, 2026Freezing USD1 Linked to the Binance Theft
On October 29, 2026, the cryptocurrency exchange BinanceBinanceBinance is a global digital asset trading and multi-asset financial platform launched in 2017 and co-founded by Changpeng Zhao and Yi He. Its business has expanded from spot trading to derivatives, wallets, payments, a public blockchain ecosystem, market data, traditional securities, and artificial intelligence interfaces; its history also includes security incidents, regulatory enforcement across multiple jurisdictions, a 2023 U.S. criminal settlement, and subsequent compliance restructuring.Open the full entry was attacked, with about $6.3 billion in assets affected by Binance’s estimate; stablecoin issuers including Tether, Circle, Ripple and World Liberty Financial then froze part of the funds moved out.[8]
That evening BitGo moved to freeze some USD1 held at an address flagged by World Liberty Financial, and World Liberty Financial then confirmed that about $27 million in USD1 had been frozen.[9]
Sources
- BitGo prices US IPO above marketed range, eyeing $212.8 million raise (opens in a new window)
- About BitGo (opens in a new window)
- BitGo confirms $100 million lawsuit against Galaxy Digital following merger breakdown (opens in a new window)
- Bitcoin custody service BitGo says Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital owes it $100 million for pulling the plug on crypto’s first ‘billion dollar’ acquisition (opens in a new window)
- FTX to Distribute Funds to Investors Through Kraken and BitGo, Process to Start in January (opens in a new window)
- Form S-1 Registration Statement: BitGo Holdings, Inc. (opens in a new window)
- BitGo Holdings Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering (opens in a new window)
- Binance Rocked by $6.3B Crypto Heist as Hackers Drain Wallets and Exchange Freezes Withdrawals (opens in a new window)
- Live updates: Binance says exploit is likely due to ‘compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop’ (opens in a new window)