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BitGo prices IPO at $18, pitching custody growth over crypto trading swings
With recent listings underperforming the CoinDesk 20, BitGo is positioning itself as a rare pure play on institutional crypto custody and long term adoption.
By Sam Reynolds
Updated Jan 22, 2026, 4:26 p.m. Published Jan 22, 2026, 3:54 a.m.
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What to know:
- BitGo priced its initial public offering at $18 a share, valuing the crypto custody firm at about $2 billion ahead of its debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BTGO.
- The listing arrives after a rough stretch for publicly traded crypto companies, with peers like Bullish, Owlting and Gemini Space Station suffering steep share-price declines alongside a broader sector pullback.
- Analysts say BitGo’s focus on custody and staking, which generate the bulk of its underlying revenue and more predictable earnings than trading-heavy businesses, could justify a valuation above the IPO price if growth targets are met.
BitGo priced its initial public offering at $18 per share late Wednesday, setting up the first crypto-focused IPO of 2026 and giving public market investors their first pure play exposure to the digital asset custody business.
The offering values the company at roughly $2 billion on a fully diluted basis, a relatively modest entry point compared with other listed crypto-related firms whose valuations are often tied to volatile trading volumes. BitGo is scheduled to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the ticker BTGO.
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The pricing comes after a difficult stretch for publicly listed crypto companies due to crypto price volatility. Several crypto-related firms that went public in 2025 have sharply underperformed over the past six months.
Shares of Bullish, the owner of CoinDesk, are down more than 40% over that period, while Owlting, a stablecoin infrastructure and payments company, has fallen nearly 90%. Gemini Space Station, the crypto custody and trading firm affiliated with the Winklevoss twins, is down close to 70%.
Over the same period, the CoinDesk 20 index has slid about 33%, highlighting how broadly public market investors have de-rated the sector amid falling token prices and tighter risk appetite.
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, said BitGo stands out as a custody-focused company with sticky, service-driven revenues that continued to grow even during 2025’s weak crypto markets.
$BTGO BitGo is the first crypto IPO of 2026 and will be the first publicly traded company to offer investors pure-play exposure to the crypto custody business. At a relatively modest $2B market capitalization, it is also one of the few publicly traded crypto-related businesses…
— matthew sigel, recovering CFA (@matthew_sigel) January 21, 2026
Sigel estimates that BitGo could generate more than $400 million in revenue and over $120 million in EBITDA by 2028, justifying a valuation above the IPO price and supporting a premium multiple relative to trading-heavy peers like Coinbase or Galaxy Digital.
He points to BitGo’s focus on custody and staking services, which he says account for more than 80% of revenue and produce more predictable earnings than transaction-based businesses.
Still, BitGo’s financials can appear confusing at first glance. Certain trading activities must be reported on a gross basis under accounting rules, inflating top-line revenue even though the economic value retained by the company is relatively small. When analysts strip out trading costs, the core of BitGo’s business becomes clearer.
Custody and staking generate the vast majority of BitGo’s real economic revenue, estimated at roughly $160 million to $170 million annually, while trading contributes only a few million dollars in net revenue, and stablecoin services remain largely nascent.
That leaves investors focused on whether the custody and staking franchise can continue to compound, with newer business lines viewed as longer-term growth options rather than near term earnings drivers.
Read More: BitGo aims to raise $201 million in IPO targeting $1.85 billion valuation
CORRECT (Jan. 22, 09:45 UTC): Corrects start of share trading to Thursday in second paragraph.
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