BitGo Gets the Full Stack From 21Shares
Crypto ETP issuer 21Shares has expanded its partnership with BitGo to cover qualified custody, trading and execution services, and integrated staking infrastructure across both the United States and Europe. The deal, announced on February 12, positions BitGo as a core infrastructure provider for 21Shares' growing suite of 59 exchange-traded products listed across 13 global exchanges.
The scope is broad. BitGo will handle custody for 21Shares' US-listed ETFs and international ETPs, provide access to liquidity across electronic and over-the-counter markets, and deliver competitive staking rewards within a regulated and insured custody framework. This is not a bolt-on integration. It is a full-stack infrastructure arrangement covering everything from cold storage to yield generation.
Andres Valencia, Head of Investment Management at 21Shares, pointed to BitGo's "track record in security, regulatory compliance and governance" as the deciding factor. Adam Sporn, Head of Prime Brokerage and Institutional Sales at BitGo, framed the deal as a natural extension of 21Shares' growing ETF product range worldwide.
Why a $2.6 Billion Custodian Is the Right Bet
BitGo's position in this deal is not accidental. The company completed its NYSE IPO on January 22, 2026, pricing shares at $18 (above its $15-$17 marketed range), raising $212.8 million and earning a valuation of roughly $2.6 billion. It was the first major crypto IPO of 2026, and the listing under ticker BTGO sent a signal that institutional crypto infrastructure could stand on its own as a public market asset.
The regulatory credentials are the real selling point. BitGo operates a federally chartered trust bank approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the United States. In Europe, it holds a MiCA license authorized by Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). That dual regulatory footprint means 21Shares can route its entire product suite through a single custody partner that meets the compliance requirements of both jurisdictions.
For context, 21Shares manages approximately $5.7 billion in assets under management as of early February 2026. The company operates as a subsidiary of FalconX, and its product lineup spans spot crypto exposure, staking-yield instruments, and thematic ETPs across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and more.
The Staking Layer Changes the Economics
The most consequential piece of this partnership is the staking infrastructure. BitGo is not just holding assets in cold storage. It is actively generating yield on behalf of 21Shares' ETP holders, turning passive custody into a revenue-producing service.
This matters because ETF staking is still a new frontier. Just days before this announcement, 21Shares paid its first Solana ETF (TSOL) staking distribution of $0.316871 per share, derived from staking rewards earned by the fund's SOL holdings. The company has also published a full 2026 staking distribution schedule for both its Ethereum ETF (TETH) and Solana ETF (TSOL), signaling that staking-based yield will be a recurring feature of its product offering rather than a one-time experiment.
The competitive landscape is heating up. Coinbase, Anchorage Digital, Ripple, and Hex Trust have all embedded staking services into their institutional offerings or partnered with staking providers like Figment and Jito Foundation. BitGo's play is to bundle custody, execution, and staking into a single regulatory wrapper, reducing counterparty risk for issuers like 21Shares who would otherwise need to coordinate across multiple service providers.
For the $5.7 billion sitting in 21Shares' products, the difference between earning staking yield and not earning it can be tens of millions of dollars annually. That is revenue that flows back to ETP holders, making staked products more attractive than their non-staked equivalents.
What This Means for Crypto Card Users and Retail Investors
The infrastructure deals happening at the institutional layer trickle down. The same OCC-chartered trust banks and MiCA-licensed entities that custody ETF assets are building the regulatory rails that crypto card issuers, exchanges, and payment processors also rely on.
Consider the parallel: BitGo's OCC trust charter is the same class of regulatory approval that enables custodial services for consumer-facing products. When a custodian proves it can hold billions in regulated assets and generate staking yield without incident, it raises the compliance floor for the entire industry. Card issuers benefit from that elevated trust even if they use different custodians.
The staking yield angle also creates direct competition for consumer capital. An investor choosing between parking SOL in a 21Shares TSOL ETF earning staking rewards and loading SOL onto a self-custody crypto card is making a yield-versus-utility decision. As ETF staking matures, the opportunity cost of holding crypto in a spending account without yield grows more visible.
For European crypto card users, the MiCA licensing is particularly relevant. MiCA compliance is becoming the standard that separates regulated from unregulated services in the EU. When BitGo secures MiCA authorization through BaFin, it validates the same framework that crypto card vendors in the EEA must navigate. The regulatory infrastructure is converging.
The Institutional Plumbing Is Becoming One System
This partnership illustrates a broader trend: the institutional crypto infrastructure layer is consolidating. Custody, execution, staking, and compliance are merging into integrated service bundles rather than existing as separate vendor relationships.
For 21Shares, this means operational simplicity. One partner handles the vault, the trading desk, the staking engine, and the regulatory reporting. For BitGo, it means recurring revenue from a $5.7 billion client that is still growing its product lineup.
The timing matters too. BitGo went public three weeks before announcing this expanded deal, which suggests the company is using its IPO capital and public-market credibility to aggressively lock in major clients. 21Shares, already one of the largest crypto ETP issuers globally with 59 products across 13 exchanges, is the kind of anchor client that signals to the market that BitGo's infrastructure is production-ready at scale.
As more crypto ETP issuers launch products across US and European markets, the demand for regulated, yield-generating custody will only increase. The question is whether BitGo can maintain its edge as competitors like Coinbase Custody and Anchorage scale their own bundled offerings.
FAQ
What does BitGo provide to 21Shares under this partnership? BitGo delivers qualified custody, trading and execution services, integrated staking infrastructure, and access to liquidity across electronic and over-the-counter markets for 21Shares' US-listed ETFs and global ETPs.
How is BitGo regulated? BitGo operates a federally chartered trust bank approved by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and holds MiCA-licensed operations authorized by Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).
How much does 21Shares manage? 21Shares manages approximately $5.7 billion in assets under management across 59 exchange-traded products listed on 13 global exchanges. The company operates as a subsidiary of FalconX.
Does this affect retail crypto investors? Indirectly, yes. Institutional custody and staking infrastructure raises the compliance and security standards that consumer-facing products, including crypto cards and exchanges, also benefit from. Staking yields embedded in ETFs also create competition for capital that might otherwise be allocated to consumer crypto products.
Overview
21Shares' expanded partnership with BitGo marks another step in the consolidation of institutional crypto infrastructure. By routing custody, execution, and staking through a single OCC-chartered and MiCA-licensed partner, 21Shares gains operational efficiency while BitGo locks in a $5.7 billion anchor client just weeks after its NYSE IPO. The staking component is the most significant development, turning passive custody into active yield generation and raising the bar for what institutional crypto products can offer. For the broader ecosystem, including retail users, crypto card holders, and DeFi participants, this kind of regulated infrastructure convergence shapes the compliance standards and yield expectations that define the entire market.
Recommended Reading
- 21Shares Pays Its First Solana ETF Staking Reward, and Wall Street's Passive Income Experiment Just Got Real
- Gemini Staking Goes Live in New York, Unlocking Crypto Yield in America's Toughest Regulatory Market
- Deribit Wins FOW Derivatives Trading System of the Year, Giving Crypto Its First Traditional Finance Industry Award
