Singapore-based crypto exchange Bitget acquires a controlling stake in Cayman Islands-based crypto wallet startup BitKeep, investing $30M at a $300M valuation
Yogita Khatri / The Block : Tweets: @yogita_khatri5 Tweets: Yogita Khatri / @yogita_khatri5 : As part of the Bitget deal, @kevincomo, BitKeep's pseudonymous CEO, is stepping down and Karry Cheung, the current chief product officer of BitKeep, is getting promoted to CEO, Han said.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is an exchange buying its way into the wallet layer: Singapore-based Bitget takes control of Cayman Islands-based BitKeep for $30M at a $300M valuation, with founder Kevin Como — notably pseudonymous — handing the CEO seat to product chief Karry Cheung. The move lands mid-way through a rough stretch for wallet and custody infrastructure: Galaxy Digital had already scrapped a planned $1.2B takeover of BitGo in 2022, before BitGo rebuilt with a $100M raise at a $1.75B valuation in August 2023.
Why it matters: the deal puts trading platforms and dedicated wallet builders on the same strategic turf. BitKeep's sale to an exchange foreshadows the split market that follows — Turnkey later pulling a $30M Series B led by Bain Capital Crypto for low-level wallet infrastructure, while Bitgo went the public-markets route instead, filing confidentially in July 2025 and pricing its NYSE IPO before a debut that closed up ~2.7% at $18.49.
First-order effects
- Bitget gains an owned self-custody wallet as a distribution and on-ramp channel alongside its exchange business, paying a $300M entry price for the controlling stake.
- BitKeep swaps a pseudonymous founder for an installed operator: Kevin Como steps down and Karry Cheung moves up from chief product officer to CEO under Bitget's ownership.
Second-order effects
- Rival exchanges now face the same build-or-buy question over wallet infrastructure, while independent wallet startups like Turnkey can pitch neutrality to users wary of holding keys inside an exchange-owned stack.
- Custody-focused players such as BitGo — which chose outside investors and eventually public markets over being absorbed by Galaxy — become the alternative counterweight to exchange-controlled wallets.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the crypto stack consolidates into two camps — exchanges owning their own custody rails versus independent, publicly listed infrastructure providers — with regulators and institutional buyers effectively choosing between them.
- Wallet infrastructure stops being a feature and becomes a priced asset class of its own, as seen in BitGo's path from a scrapped $1.2B acquisition to an IPO that raised $212.8M.
The trend: Crypto exchanges are vertically integrating into the self-custody wallet layer just as independent wallet-and-custody infrastructure matures into a separately valued, even publicly traded, market.