BitGo, which makes multi-signature cryptocurrency wallets, raises $58.5M Series B from Goldman, Mike Novogratz, and others, bringing total raised to $70M
- Startup guards digital currencies for institutional investors — Bank calls custody a ‘logical precursor’ to market making
Context & Ripple Effects
BitGo had already raised a $42.5M Series B led by Valor Equity Partners ten months earlier for its enterprise multi-signature wallets; this round changes the character of the cap table rather than the size of the company. Goldman Sachs and Mike Novogratz coming in signals that Wall Street sees custody — guarding digital currencies for institutional investors — as infrastructure worth owning, with Goldman explicitly calling it a 'logical precursor' to market making.
That framing matters because custody is the trust layer institutions need before they trade, and the investors here are positioning accordingly: Novogratz's own Galaxy Digital would later attempt a $1.2B acquisition of BitGo, and BitGo eventually headed toward a NYSE IPO targeting up to $1.96B. This round is the moment the bank-grade money arrived.
First-order effects
- BitGo gets $58.5M ($70M total) to scale multi-signature wallet custody for institutional clients, with Goldman and Novogratz as anchor backers validating the product for other funds weighing entry into digital assets.
Second-order effects
- Goldman's 'precursor to market making' framing puts rival custodians on notice that banks may bundle custody with trading services, shifting competition from key security alone toward full institutional service stacks.
Third-order effects
- If custody becomes the standard on-ramp for institutional crypto capital, control of that layer consolidates into financial firms — a path this corpus traces from Novogratz's early check through Galaxy's acquisition bid to BitGo's eventual public listing.
The trend: Crypto custody is being absorbed into traditional finance's institutional stack, with banks and crypto-native financiers racing to own the trust layer before trading volumes follow.