BitGo shifts focus from crypto custody to trading, lending

BitGo has set its sights on turning trading, lending and settlement into the main source of revenue for the U.S. crypto custodian, with CEO Mike Belshe saying on Oct. 6 that he eventually wants prime brokerage to account for the entire business.

Bloomberg reported from Singapore that Belshe wants BitGo to make money from helping institutional customers trade and finance their digital assets instead of relying heavily on fees charged simply for storing them.

“We would like it to be 100% of our revenue,” Belshe said of prime brokerage. The comment describes his long-term ambition, and BitGo has not disclosed a timetable or formal revenue target for reaching that level.

His reasoning was equally direct. “Nobody wants to pay for custody,” Belshe said, as the company works to use custody as the entry point for services that generate fees when clients trade, borrow, settle transactions or manage collateral.

BitGo, the US crypto custodian that went public this year, wants prime brokerage to become the main engine of its business as it expands its trading, financing and settlement services, co-founder and Chief Executive Mike Belshe said. https://t.co/Gl2E6LJPZ7

— Bloomberg (@business) October 6, 2026

BitGo’s latest financial filings show that the company is already moving in that direction. Its custody and wallet relationships still provide the foundation of the platform, but management said in August that its priority is to turn more of those relationships into recurring revenue from several products.

BitGo wants custody clients to use more services

Prime brokerage brings several services normally used by large trading firms under one relationship. In BitGo’s case, the offering includes trade execution, financing, collateral management and settlement while client assets can remain inside regulated custody.

The model gives BitGo more ways to earn from customers that already use it to store digital assets. A fund holding Bitcoin with the company, for example, can access trading liquidity, borrow against eligible collateral or settle trades without first moving its holdings to an exchange.

BitGo Prime sits on the trading and financing side of the system. Go Network handles capital movement and settlement. Its Delivery-versus-Payment service is designed so the asset and payment settle together, while off-exchange settlement lets institutions trade at supported venues with assets still held by a BitGo regulated custodian.

The company has been building those connections throughout 2026. On Sept. 30, BitGo expanded its OKX off-exchange settlement arrangement beyond the U.S., allowing eligible international institutions to access OKX liquidity while supported collateral remains in segregated custody with BitGo Singapore.

A similar structure is already operating in the U.S. As previously reported by crypto.news, Gate US joined BitGo’s off-exchange settlement network in July, allowing institutional traders to use the exchange while their assets remained with BitGo Bank & Trust.

Trading is growing, but BitGo’s headline revenue needs context

BitGo’s financial statements show why trading sits near the center of the plan.

For the second quarter of 2026, the company reported $4.33 billion in total revenue, up 79.6% from a year earlier. Digital asset sales accounted for nearly $4.20 billion of that amount.

The figure should not be read as $4.2 billion of trading profit. BitGo records most spot digital asset sales on a gross basis, meaning the value of assets sold appears as revenue while the cost of buying those assets appears separately.

Direct costs for digital asset sales reached roughly $4.19 billion during the quarter. BitGo said the activity produced a margin of around $7.1 million, or 17 basis points, down from 32 basis points in the first quarter.

Derivatives are accounted for differently, with revenue recorded on a net basis. The company said changes between spot and derivatives activity can therefore make headline revenue fluctuate without giving a simple picture of the economics generated by each trade.

Meanwhile, subscriptions and services generated $27.5 million in the second quarter, up 8.5% from a year earlier. BitGo linked the increase to client growth and higher activity, while its SEC filing identified stronger lending activity as a contributor to six-month subscription and services growth.

The platform had 5,833 clients at the end of June, up 26.2% year over year, with $65.2 billion of assets on the platform. BitGo’s normalized measure of assets on platform rose 31.4% after adjusting the comparison for changes in digital asset prices.

NYDIG deal adds more trading and lending tools

BitGo accelerated the buildout in August when it acquired NYDIG’s institutional trading business and related assets.

The completed transaction brought additional derivatives, financing and institutional execution capabilities into BitGo’s platform. Financial terms were not publicly disclosed.

As crypto.news reported, the acquired operation covered derivatives, structured products, financing and execution services, with roughly 30 NYDIG employees joining BitGo along with institutional client relationships.

Less than three weeks later, BitGo and Crossover Markets said clients had passed $2 billion in cumulative notional volume executed through Crossover’s CROSSx venue and cleared and settled through Go Network.

The arrangement separates execution from custody. Crossover provides the trading venue, while BitGo supplies credit, custody, clearing and settlement. Customers can therefore trade through CROSSx and settle through Go Network instead of placing the full trading balance with the execution venue.

BitGo Prime expanded its liquidity network earlier in July by adding Virtu Financial. BitGo said institutional customers could access Virtu pricing alongside other liquidity providers while assets remained with BitGo Bank & Trust or BitGo Europe throughout the trading and settlement process.

The regulated custody layer remains central to the setup. BitGo received OCC approval in December 2025 to convert its South Dakota trust company into BitGo Bank & Trust, National Association, giving the unit a federal national trust bank charter.

BitGo then listed its Class A shares on the New York Stock Exchange under BTGO on Jan. 22. SEC filings show the company sold 11.03 million shares at $18 each, generating $198.5 million in gross proceeds and roughly $174 million after underwriting discounts and expenses.

Crypto firms are moving beyond one-service business models

BitGo’s strategy fits a pattern developing across institutional crypto businesses, where firms that once specialized in one service are assembling custody, execution, lending, settlement and payments under connected platforms.

Ripple followed a similar route after its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, which became Ripple Prime. In related crypto.news coverage, the service was described as an institutional platform spanning financing, clearing and trading across digital assets and traditional markets.

Off-exchange settlement is becoming another part of that model. Binance and Anchorage Digital have built a structure that lets institutional traders access exchange liquidity while eligible collateral remains with a regulated custodian, as crypto.news previously reported.

The setup separates custody from trade execution, reducing the amount of capital that needs to sit directly on an exchange while the trader remains able to use its liquidity.

Institutional lending is growing alongside settlement and trading services. FalconX has expanded secured lending arrangements with Ethena, including a $1 billion facility announced in August. As crypto.news reported, the program uses assets backing USDe to support overcollateralized institutional loans.

Traditional financial companies are taking a similar path. Standard Chartered has combined digital asset custody and spot trading services while working on prime brokerage infrastructure, according to related crypto.news coverage.

For BitGo, stablecoins provide another revenue source outside basic custody. Stablecoin-as-a-Service produced $38.8 million of second-quarter revenue, up 148% year over year, though $35.7 million flowed out as stablecoin sponsor fees. Management said higher reserve balances and new programs supported the business.

The company’s own second-quarter statement describes custody and wallet relationships as the foundation of the platform while seeking to convert more customers into users of several services.

Belshe’s Oct. 6 “100%” prime brokerage comment goes much further than BitGo’s formal financial disclosures. The company has not announced when prime brokerage could become its largest revenue source, much less its only one, and its reported businesses still include staking, subscriptions, stablecoin infrastructure, interest income and digital asset sales.