BitGo's IPO Signals the Infrastructure Phase of Institutional Crypto
I've watched the digital asset space long enough to recognize when something fundamental shifts.
BitGo's IPO at $18 per share on the NYSE in 2026 isn't just another company going public. It's the market declaring that custody infrastructure has graduated from experimental to essential.
The numbers tell you what institutions already know. The offering raised $213 million with Goldman Sachs and Citigroup leading the underwriting. The stock opened at $22.43, up 24.6% from the IPO price, pushing the initial market valuation to $2.59 billion before settling at $18.49 for a 2.7% gain.
But here's what matters more than the first-day pop: the IPO was 13x oversubscribed.
That level of demand in a market still processing the 2022 blowups tells you institutions have moved past speculation and into infrastructure allocation. They're not betting on price. They're betting on plumbing.
The Custody Layer Is the Enabler, Not the Product
BitGo manages roughly $104 billion in assets across more than 4,900 clients in over 100 countries. The company achieved 56% year-on-year growth in subscriptions and services revenue, which rose to $120.7 million.
These aren't trading revenues. They're infrastructure revenues.
VanEck projects BitGo will generate more than $400 million in revenue and over $120 million in EBITDA by 2028. According to VanEck's head of digital assets research Matthew Sigel, custody and staking services generate more predictable and higher-quality earnings than transaction-oriented businesses.
I see this as the market recognizing a basic principle: you can't build institutional participation without institutional-grade custody. The infrastructure providers are the enablers for everything else that follows.
The traditional finance playbook has always worked this way. You build the rails first. Then you run the trains.
Wall Street Is Building the Rails Now
The custody infrastructure buildout isn't happening in isolation. Major Wall Street banks are launching crypto custody services in 2026.
Citigroup plans to debut custody solutions after three years of development, joining Goldman Sachs and other bulge-bracket institutions. Ten major banks including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and UBS are exploring a consortium stablecoin issuance pegged to G7 currencies.
This is the institutional playbook in action. Banks don't enter markets they consider experimental. They enter markets where client demand has reached critical mass and regulatory clarity has emerged.
The timing aligns with what I'm seeing across the institutional landscape. 76% of global institutional investors planned to expand digital asset exposure in 2026, with nearly 60% expecting to allocate over 5% of assets under management to crypto this year, according to Coinbase Institutional research.
That's not speculative positioning. That's strategic allocation.
The ETF Gateway Changed the Access Model
JPMorgan estimates institutional-grade crypto ETF inflows could reach $15 billion in a base-case scenario or surge to $40 billion under favorable conditions in 2026. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs already surpassed $115 billion in assets under management by late 2025.
The ETF wrapper solved a fundamental problem for traditional allocators. It allowed exposure without operational complexity.
But ETFs create downstream demand for custody infrastructure. Someone has to hold the underlying assets. Someone has to manage the staking. Someone has to handle the operational risk.
That's where custody providers like BitGo become systemically important. The ETF is the product institutions buy. The custody layer is the infrastructure that makes the product possible.
I expect this dynamic to accelerate. As more institutional capital flows through regulated vehicles, the custody layer becomes more critical and more valuable.
Regulatory Clarity Will Unlock the Next Wave
Grayscale expects bipartisan crypto market structure legislation to become U.S. law in 2026. This legislation will bring deeper integration between public blockchains and traditional finance, facilitate regulated trading of digital asset securities, and allow for on-chain issuance by both startups and mature companies.
Regulatory clarity doesn't just reduce risk. It expands the addressable market.
Right now, many institutional allocators remain on the sidelines because their compliance frameworks can't accommodate regulatory uncertainty. Once market structure legislation passes, you'll see pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds enter the space in scale.
North America already processed $2.3 trillion in cryptocurrency transaction value between July 2024 and June 2025, according to Chainalysis estimates. The region represents the most mature environment for large-scale institutional trading and risk management, with refined ETF and custody frameworks allowing retirement funds and corporate treasuries to participate.
The infrastructure is ready. The regulatory framework is forming. The institutional demand is building.
Consolidation Will Define the Next Phase
Crypto M&A reached $8.6 billion across 267 deals in 2025, nearly quadruple the value from 2024. Industry leaders expect the deal momentum to continue into 2026, with predictions of the first "merger of equals" between major crypto unicorns.
This consolidation pattern signals maturation, not distress.
In emerging markets, you typically see fragmentation first as multiple players compete for early adoption. Then you see consolidation as the market matures and economies of scale become decisive.
The custody and infrastructure layer will follow this pattern. You'll see strategic combinations that create end-to-end service providers capable of serving global institutional clients across multiple asset classes and regulatory jurisdictions.
Pantera Capital predicts 2026 as the biggest crypto IPO year ever, building on 2025's foundation that already saw nine blockchain IPOs including Circle, Gemini, and Bullish. The venture firm cites regulatory tailwinds and accelerating institutional adoption as key factors pointing to even greater scale in 2026.
I expect the public markets to provide the capital and the operational discipline that will separate the infrastructure providers built for institutional scale from those built for retail experimentation.
What This Means for the Next 24 Months
The institutional adoption curve has entered a new phase. You're going to see several developments accelerate simultaneously:
Custody becomes commoditized at the base layer. The basic function of holding digital assets securely will become table stakes. The value will migrate to specialized services like staking, governance participation, and cross-chain asset management.
Integration with traditional finance deepens. Banks will offer crypto custody alongside traditional custody. Prime brokers will integrate digital asset services into existing client relationships. The separation between crypto infrastructure and traditional financial infrastructure will blur.
Operational standards will converge. Institutional clients will demand the same operational rigor, reporting standards, and risk management frameworks they expect from traditional asset managers. Providers who can't meet these standards will lose institutional mandates.
Regulatory frameworks will harmonize. As major jurisdictions implement market structure legislation, you'll see international coordination on custody standards, capital requirements, and cross-border asset movement. This harmonization will enable global institutional participation.
The talent pool will professionalize. The industry will attract more professionals from traditional finance, compliance, and risk management. The culture will shift from crypto-native to institutionally fluent.
The Infrastructure Thesis Is Playing Out
I've believed for years that digital assets would follow the same adoption pattern as every other financial innovation. First comes speculation. Then comes infrastructure. Then comes institutionalization.
BitGo's IPO confirms we're in the infrastructure phase.
The companies that win this phase won't be the ones with the best marketing or the most retail brand recognition. They'll be the ones that built institutional-grade custody infrastructure, navigated regulatory complexity, and earned the trust of allocators managing billions in client assets.
The custody layer is the foundation for everything else that follows. Without secure, compliant, operationally rigorous custody, you can't have institutional-scale ETFs. You can't have pension fund allocation. You can't have corporate treasury adoption.
The market is recognizing this reality. The capital is flowing to infrastructure providers. The regulatory framework is forming around custody and market structure.
Watch what institutions do, not what they say. They're building the rails. The trains will follow.