2026's First Crypto IPO BitGo: What Signals Does It Send?

Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)

Author｜jk

Yesterday, the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange welcomed the first cryptocurrency industry IPO of the new year: the listing bell rang for digital asset custody service provider BitGo Holdings (NYSE: BTGO). Founded in 2013 and managing assets exceeding $100 billion, this industry leader officially entered the capital markets with an offering price of $18 per share, raising approximately $212.8 million and achieving a valuation surpassing the $2 billion mark.

What is BitGo? Why Haven't Retail Investors Heard Much About It?

BitGo was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in South Dakota, USA. It is the world's largest independent digital asset custodian. The company was co-founded by internet technology pioneers Mike Belshe and Ben Davenport. Belshe was one of the first engineers on the Google Chrome browser team and a primary author of the HTTP/2.0 protocol.

Currently, BitGo serves over 4,900 institutional clients globally, managing assets exceeding $104 billion, with clients spanning more than 50 countries. The company processes approximately 20% of global Bitcoin transaction volume. Its clientele includes cryptocurrency exchanges, hedge funds, asset management firms, as well as traditional corporate institutions like Nike and NYU Langone Health.

BitGo's core businesses include: digital asset custody (cold storage and hot wallets), the BitGo Prime trading and lending platform, the Go Network real-time settlement network, staking services, and exclusive custody for Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). It is worth noting that the company maintains a perfect safety record with zero security incidents over 12 years.

Regarding regulatory compliance, BitGo received approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in December 2025, becoming the first crypto custody company to obtain a federal bank charter. It also holds operational licenses in multiple jurisdictions, including the EU's MiCA license and the UAE's VARA license.

First-Day Performance: Surge at Open Followed by Pullback

BitGo's stock opened at $22.43, up 24.6% from the $18 offering price. It reached an intraday high of $24.50, extending gains to 36%, but gave back most of the gains near the close, ultimately settling at $18.49, a mere 2.7% increase from the offering price.

The IPO was priced at $18 per share, above the previously expected range of $15-$17. The company issued approximately 11.82 million Class A ordinary shares, raising about $212.8 million. At the offering price, the company's valuation was approximately $2.08 billion, higher than its $1.75 billion valuation during its Series C funding round in August 2023.

Goldman Sachs and Citigroup acted as joint lead underwriters for the IPO. It is reported that the IPO was oversubscribed by approximately 13 times.

Rapid Revenue Growth, but Profit Margins Under Pressure

According to the prospectus, BitGo generated revenue of $3.08 billion and net income of $156.6 million in fiscal year 2024, successfully reversing a $2.1 million loss in fiscal year 2023. In the first half of 2025, the company's revenue surged to $4.19 billion, a staggering increase of about 274% year-over-year. However, net income fell to $12.6 million, down 59% year-over-year, primarily due to significant investments in infrastructure and team expansion.

It is important to note that BitGo's revenue composition is unique. Under accounting rules, the company must record the full amount of client transactions as revenue, while simultaneously recording the asset acquisition cost as a cost item. Therefore, while the book revenue reaches tens of billions of dollars, the actual net revenue after deducting costs is much smaller. For example, in the first half of 2025, net revenue from digital asset sales was only $34.7 million, net staking revenue was $40.5 million, and net stablecoin-as-a-service revenue was $2.7 million.

The company's operating expenses in 2024 reached $3.09 billion, of which digital asset sales costs accounted for $2.53 billion. Subscription and service revenue remained relatively stable, reaching $120.7 million in 2024, a 56% increase year-over-year.

Analysts Bullish: Target Price Up to $26.5

Despite the subdued first-day performance, several analysts remain optimistic about BitGo's long-term investment value. Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at investment management firm VanEck, set a target price of $26.50, representing a 47% upside from the IPO price and implying a market capitalization of approximately $3 billion.

Sigel pointed out that BitGo is the first publicly listed company to offer investors pure exposure to the custody business. Its custody and staking services contribute over 80% of its revenue, giving it stronger revenue stability and higher earnings quality compared to competitors heavily reliant on trading volume (such as Coinbase or Galaxy Digital). He expects BitGo could achieve over $400 million in revenue and $120 million in EBITDA by 2028.

"BitGo maintains an impeccable security record and has built critical competitive moats in regulatory compliance," Sigel stated. "Among digital asset projects with market caps exceeding $2 billion, the vast majority have never generated a single cent of net profit for holders. In contrast, BitGo's equity is clearly a higher-quality investment."

He added that if the Bitcoin price rises by 33%, the 2,369 Bitcoins held by BitGo would add $72 million to the company's market value, further supporting its $3 billion fair valuation.

Signal of Crypto IPO Market Restart, Multiple Companies in Line for Listing

BitGo's listing is seen as a landmark event signaling the restart of the cryptocurrency IPO market after the winter of Q4 2025. In the first half of 2025, several crypto companies successfully went public, including stablecoin issuer Circle (listing valuation ~$7 billion), exchange Gemini, and Bullish. However, as Bitcoin retreated 29% from its all-time high of $126,000 to the current level of around $89,000, crypto-related stocks also experienced significant adjustments.

The industry widely believes that BitGo's market performance will serve as a crucial indicator for the wave of crypto IPOs in 2026. It is understood that crypto exchange Kraken and ETF provider Grayscale are both preparing for listing plans and are expected to enter the capital markets within this year.

BitGo CEO Mike Belshe remains optimistic about the prospects: "The improved regulatory environment over the past year allows all financial institutions to participate in the digital asset market, effectively doubling our total addressable client base."

Innovative Feature: Stock Tokenization on-Chain

Notably, BitGo chose a more "crypto-native" path to listing—by partnering with Ondo Finance to tokenize its company stock, enabling it to be traded and circulated on blockchain networks like Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain. This is one of the first cases among newly listed U.S. companies to achieve globalized, real-time stock trading, providing overseas investors with near-instant access.

Although the first-day closing gain was not as high as Circle's, as an infrastructure provider offering "utility-level" services within the crypto ecosystem, BitGo's long-term value has gained broad recognition from institutional investors. As traditional financial institutions accelerate their embrace of digital assets, whether BitGo can fulfill analysts' high expectations will be continuously monitored and reported by Odaily.