BitGo launches dedicated retail platform to buy, sell, trade, custody and stake crypto assets

Digital asset infrastructure provider BitGo has launched a dedicated retail platform — providing global access to its regulated digital asset trading, staking, lending, wallet and cold and self-storage custody services for the first time.

Founded in 2013, BitGo has primarily served institutional clients until now, offering services like custody, trading and settlement. It is also one of the approved firms helping to facilitate client repayments from the defunct Mt. Gox exchange, provides custody services for Ark Invest/21Shares and Valkyrie (now CoinShares) U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and is currently the custodian of the largest Ethereum-based wrapped bitcoin asset, WBTC.

BitGo claims to have safeguarded billions in crypto assets for institutions, with its new retail solution designed to offer the cohort the same levels of institutional-grade security, transparency and regulatory compliance, the firm said in a statement shared with The Block.

"We are thrilled to launch BitGo’s dedicated retail platform and offer the same white-glove, crypto-native solutions to retail investors that we’ve delivered to the global institutional market since 2013," BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said. “Retail investors need a security-first, crypto-native platform, and we are excited to serve as that trusted partner. We look forward to enhancing the retail investing, trading, storage and staking experience for investors around the world.”

The platform is now live for global investors, with eligible U.S. users offered the chance to win a full bitcoin if they register. 

BitGo secured $100 million in a Series C funding round at a $1.75 billion valuation in 2023.

A shift in focus at BitGo

BitGo’s retail platform launch comes at a time of an apparent shift in focus for the infrastructure provider, having announced plans in August to become a minority owner in a new joint venture to distribute control over WBTC’s custody. This included the Hong Kong-based trust company BiT Global, which has ties to Tron founder Justin Sun.

This so-called “strategic partnership between BitGo, Justin Sun and the Tron ecosystem” caused a stir within the crypto industry, partly because of longstanding controversies surrounding Sun, one of the most influential figures in the space.

In response, for instance, stablecoin issuer MakerDAO (now Sky) initially voted to limit minting its DAI (USDS) stablecoin using wBTC as collateral. Meanwhile, decentralized lender Aave said it would monitor the situation and Coinbase and Kraken swiftly announced their own wrapped bitcoin alternatives.

However, in an interview with The Block at the time, Belshe described Sun’s WBTC involvement as a “big nothingburger,” explaining the team at BiT Global manages multiple client accounts with a duty for safekeeping care and that WBTC attestations would continue to run. "I think BitGo has a very strong reputation because we have applied the strictest principles of security to everything that we do. And you can think what you will about Justin Sun, but I know that the technology that's here is the strongest of the industry," Belshe said. 

"My personal involvement in WBTC is entirely strategic," Sun wrote , echoing Belshe’s sentiment. "I do not control the private keys to the WBTC reserves and cannot move any BTC reserves."