SINGAPORE — BitGo is preparing for a major transformation, moving beyond its traditional role as a cryptocurrency custodian to compete for a larger share of the institutional trading, lending and financing business.
The U.S.-listed digital-asset infrastructure company wants prime brokerage to become its primary source of revenue—and eventually account for its entire business.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mike Belshe outlined the ambition in an October 6 interview with Bloomberg in Singapore.
His message was straightforward: BitGo wants to earn money by helping financial institutions use their digital assets, rather than relying primarily on fees for storing them.
The shift comes as traditional financial institutions increasingly enter the cryptocurrency custody market, intensifying competition for businesses that once dominated secure digital-asset storage.
But BitGo’s ambition extends far beyond defending its existing business.
The company wants to become a financial-services platform for institutional cryptocurrency markets—combining custody, trading, borrowing, collateral management and settlement under one roof.
If successful, that transformation could move BitGo closer to the operating model of Wall Street’s major prime brokers.
The challenge is that providing financing and trading services introduces risks that are very different from simply safeguarding customer assets.
From Crypto Vault to Institutional Trading Powerhouse
BitGo built its reputation as one of the cryptocurrency industry’s established custody providers.
Founded in 2013, the company developed technology and security infrastructure to help institutions store and manage digital assets.
Its customers include asset managers, trading firms, financial institutions and other organizations that need secure cryptocurrency infrastructure.
Custody has historically been a central part of that relationship.
But Belshe believes the long-term opportunity lies in offering additional services to those same customers.
Instead of charging clients primarily to hold their Bitcoin and other digital assets, BitGo wants to generate more revenue when those clients trade, borrow, settle transactions and manage collateral.
That creates a fundamentally different relationship between the company and its customers.
Custody establishes trust.
Prime brokerage attempts to turn that trust into a broader financial-services business.
What Is Prime Brokerage?
In traditional financial markets, prime brokerage is a collection of services used by hedge funds and other sophisticated investors.
Prime brokers can provide trade execution, financing, securities lending, settlement and collateral management.
BitGo wants to adapt that model to cryptocurrency.
An institutional investor holding Bitcoin with BitGo could potentially use the company’s broader platform to execute trades, arrange eligible financing and manage collateral without repeatedly transferring assets among unrelated service providers.
BitGo Prime already advertises integrated trading, financing, collateral management and settlement capabilities supported by regulated custody infrastructure.
Its services include access to multiple liquidity providers, over-the-counter execution and off-exchange settlement.
The potential advantage is efficiency.
Instead of maintaining separate relationships with a custodian, trading venue, lender and settlement provider, institutions can use a more integrated platform.
Why BitGo Wants to Move Away From Custody Fees
The strategy reflects growing pressure on the economics of cryptocurrency custody.
As digital assets become more widely accepted, established banks are entering the market.
These institutions bring significant advantages.
They already have relationships with asset managers and pension funds.
They operate established compliance systems.
They have access to capital.
And they can potentially offer custody alongside existing banking and securities services.
For standalone crypto custodians, that creates the risk of increasingly intense price competition.
BitGo’s answer is to make custody the foundation of its platform rather than the only service customers pay for.
A client that simply stores Bitcoin may generate a relatively limited recurring fee.
A client that also trades frequently, uses financing and settles transactions through BitGo could create several revenue opportunities.
That is the business model Belshe wants to develop.
BitGo Has Already Made a Major Acquisition
The company’s strategy is not merely theoretical.
On August 27, BitGo announced that it had completed the acquisition of the institutional trading business and related assets of NYDIG.
The transaction expanded BitGo’s capabilities in derivatives, financing, structured products and institutional execution.
Approximately 30 NYDIG employees joined BitGo, bringing experience and established relationships with institutional clients.
The acquisition also expanded the company’s ability to serve hedge funds, asset managers, corporations and sophisticated investors seeking customized digital-asset trading solutions.
For BitGo, the transaction represents an important step toward becoming a more comprehensive financial-services provider.
Rather than building every capability internally, the company is using acquisitions to accelerate its expansion.
A $2 Billion Trading Milestone Shows the Strategy Is Gaining Traction
BitGo has also been expanding the infrastructure that connects institutional investors with trading venues.
On September 14, the company announced that its partnership with Crossover Markets had surpassed $2 billion in cumulative notional trading volume.
The transactions were executed through Crossover Markets’ CROSSx trading network and cleared and settled using BitGo’s Go Network.
That arrangement allows eligible institutions to access external trading liquidity while using BitGo’s custody and settlement infrastructure.
The milestone does not mean BitGo earned $2 billion in revenue.
It represents the cumulative value of transactions handled through that particular trading relationship.
Nevertheless, it provides evidence that institutional clients are using the type of integrated infrastructure BitGo wants to expand.
Global Liquidity Layer Could Become a Major Growth Engine
In July, BitGo introduced its Global Liquidity Layer.
The service is designed to connect institutional customers with digital-asset liquidity across trading venues and counterparties.
Cryptocurrency markets are fragmented.
Liquidity exists across centralized exchanges, over-the-counter trading desks and other platforms.
Large investors often need access to several venues to execute substantial transactions efficiently.
BitGo’s Global Liquidity Layer attempts to simplify that process.
Clients can access trading infrastructure through a more centralized relationship while integrating financing, collateral and settlement services.
The business opportunity comes from helping institutional investors trade more efficiently rather than forcing them to manage numerous disconnected systems.
BitGo Became a Public Company in January 2026
The expansion comes during BitGo’s first year as a publicly traded company.
The firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange on January 22 under the ticker BTGO.
Its initial public offering raised approximately $212.8 million, with shares priced at $18 apiece.
The stock opened at $22.43 on its first trading day, giving the company an initial trading valuation of approximately $2.59 billion.
The listing provided BitGo with greater visibility among public-market investors.
It also created new pressure to demonstrate sustainable earnings growth.
Public shareholders now have the ability to evaluate the company’s financial performance every quarter.
That makes the shift toward prime brokerage particularly important.
Investors will want to know whether additional trading and financing services can generate durable profits.
Revenue Is Growing Rapidly—But Profitability Remains a Challenge
BitGo’s latest financial results reveal why the company is searching for a more profitable growth model.
For the second quarter of 2026, the company reported approximately $4.33 billion in total revenue, an increase of 79.6% from a year earlier.
However, direct costs reached approximately $4.29 billion.
The company recorded a $19 million net loss, compared with net income of $38.3 million during the same period in 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA was negative $4.2 million.
These figures highlight an important distinction between cryptocurrency transaction revenue and actual profitability.
A large portion of BitGo’s reported revenue comes from digital-asset sales, where the costs of acquiring those assets can be almost as large as the revenue recognized.
In the second quarter, digital-asset sales generated approximately $4.20 billion in revenue but only around $7.1 million after associated direct costs.
That means headline revenue alone does not tell investors how profitable the underlying business has become.
A successful prime-brokerage expansion would need to improve the economics of serving institutional clients—not merely increase reported trading volume.
More Customers Are Joining the Platform
Despite profitability challenges, BitGo’s institutional customer base continues to expand.
The company reported 5,833 clients at the end of the second quarter, an increase of approximately 26% from a year earlier.
That expanding customer base creates potential demand for additional financial services.
Existing clients already use BitGo for custody, wallets and digital-asset infrastructure.
The company now wants to persuade more of them to adopt trading, financing and settlement products.
This approach could potentially reduce customer-acquisition costs.
Instead of finding an entirely new customer for every service, BitGo can offer more products to institutions already connected to its platform.
That is a central part of the prime-brokerage strategy.
Singapore Is Becoming an Important Market
Belshe’s comments in Singapore were particularly significant because Asia is becoming an increasingly important region for institutional digital-asset activity.
BitGo Singapore operates under a Major Payment Institution licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The company said in September that its Asia-Pacific client base had tripled since the Singapore entity received its licence.
Trading volumes at its Singapore prime-brokerage desk more than doubled during the first half of 2026 compared with the previous year.
BitGo also described Singapore as its largest prime-brokerage trading desk globally.
That growth reflects increasing demand from financial institutions seeking regulated cryptocurrency infrastructure across Asian markets.
Singapore’s position as an international financial center makes it a natural location for businesses connecting traditional capital markets with digital assets.
South Korea Is Another Expansion Opportunity
BitGo has also strengthened its presence in South Korea.
In August, the company announced that BitGo Korea had secured Virtual Asset Service Provider registration acceptance from the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit.
The locally registered entity is backed by Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom.
Its authorized activities include virtual-asset custody and transfer services for institutional and enterprise customers.
That development gives BitGo another regulated foothold in a major Asian digital-asset market.
It also reinforces the company’s broader international strategy.
Institutional clients increasingly want cryptocurrency services that operate within recognizable regulatory frameworks.
Expanding through licensed local entities could help BitGo attract organizations that have been reluctant to use less-regulated offshore platforms.
Custody Remains Central to the Strategy
Despite Belshe’s ambition to generate revenue from prime brokerage, BitGo is not abandoning custody.
In fact, secure custody remains central to the company’s offering.
Institutional investors generally want assets protected while they trade.
One of the problems exposed by earlier cryptocurrency-market failures was the danger of leaving substantial customer assets directly on trading platforms.
BitGo’s model seeks to separate custody from trading execution where possible.
Eligible clients can access supported trading venues while maintaining assets within regulated custody arrangements.
This can reduce certain counterparty and operational risks.
But it does not eliminate risk entirely.
Financing, derivatives and collateral arrangements still introduce exposure to market volatility, liquidity constraints and counterparties.
That creates an important challenge as BitGo expands.
Prime Brokerage Could Generate More Revenue—But Also More Risk
Traditional prime brokerage can be highly profitable.
It can also become dangerous when leverage rises or collateral values fall sharply.
Cryptocurrency markets are particularly volatile.
Bitcoin and other digital assets can experience large price movements within hours.
If investors borrow against cryptocurrency collateral, sudden price declines can trigger margin calls or forced liquidations.
Prime brokers must therefore manage credit exposure carefully.
They need robust collateral valuation, liquidity controls, counterparty monitoring and risk-management systems.
For BitGo, becoming a major provider of institutional financing will require more than trading technology.
It will require demonstrating that the company can manage financial risks through periods of extreme market stress.
Wall Street Banks Are Becoming Both Competitors and Potential Partners
Traditional financial institutions are increasingly involved in digital assets.
Their interest creates a double-edged opportunity for BitGo.
Banks entering crypto custody could compete directly with BitGo’s historical business.
But those same institutions may also need specialized infrastructure to access trading venues, settle transactions and manage digital collateral.
BitGo could therefore compete with banks in some services while supplying infrastructure to them in others.
This is becoming a common feature of the digital-asset industry.
As traditional finance adopts blockchain-based products, the distinction between crypto-native firms and established financial institutions is beginning to narrow.
Institutional Crypto Is Moving Beyond Buying and Holding Bitcoin
Another major development is the changing nature of institutional demand.
Earlier waves of cryptocurrency adoption focused heavily on purchasing and storing Bitcoin.
The market is now developing more sophisticated services.
Institutional participants increasingly require execution technology, financing, collateral management and settlement infrastructure comparable to what exists in traditional securities markets.
That shift creates opportunities for companies capable of providing multiple services through regulated platforms.
It also raises customer expectations.
Institutional investors want operational reliability, transparent pricing, strong security and predictable settlement.
The firms that deliver those capabilities could become central infrastructure providers as the digital-asset market matures.
The Next Test Is Converting Trading Growth Into Earnings
BitGo has already demonstrated that institutional demand for its infrastructure is expanding.
Its customer base is growing.
Its Singapore trading operation is scaling.
Its Crossover Markets partnership has processed more than $2 billion in cumulative notional trading volume.
And the NYDIG acquisition has expanded its capabilities.
But those developments do not automatically guarantee higher profits.
The company’s second-quarter results show that substantial transaction revenue can coexist with relatively thin margins and net losses.
The challenge now is to convert greater platform activity into stronger financial performance.
That means improving unit economics while controlling operating costs and managing the risks associated with lending and trading.
BitGo Wants to Become the Financial Infrastructure Behind Institutional Crypto
The company’s direction is becoming clearer.
It wants custody to attract and retain clients.
It wants trading services to deepen relationships.
It wants financing to create additional revenue.
And it wants settlement infrastructure to connect everything.
That model could eventually make BitGo less dependent on one activity and more deeply embedded in institutional cryptocurrency markets.
But Belshe’s ambition for prime brokerage to account for 100% of revenue remains a long-term objective—not a financial result the company has already achieved.
No firm timetable has been announced for reaching that goal.
BitGo spent more than a decade building a business around keeping cryptocurrency safe.
Now it wants to make more money helping institutions put those assets to work.
The bigger question is whether that transformation can produce the kind of sustainable profits Wall Street expects—or expose the company to the very trading and lending risks that made secure custody so valuable in the first place.
