Crypto custody startup BitGo confidentially files for US IPO
Several high-profile companies, including those in riskier sectors like crypto and fintech, have launched successful listings in recent weeks, signaling pent-up demand and a rebound in capital markets activity.
BitGo's announcement follows the crypto sector's market value hitting $4 trillion last week, driven by a wave of corporate treasury adoption, regulatory clarity in key markets, and rising institutional inflows.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law to create a regulatory regime for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies called stablecoins, potentially allowing the digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money.
Bitcoin, the world's largest and best-known cryptocurrency, recently breached the $120,000 mark. It is up 26 per cent so far in 2025, while ether, the second-largest, has gained about 14 per cent.
The sector's rapid ascent has opened the floodgates for IPO filings. Crypto-focused asset manager Grayscale and Gemini, the digital assets exchange founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, have also confidentially filed to go public in recent weeks.
The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed initial public offering have not yet been determined, BitGo said.
The Palo Alto, California-based company had raised $100 million at a $1.75 billion valuation in August 2023.
Founded in 2013, BitGo is one of the largest crypto custody firms based in the U.S. These companies store and protect digital assets on behalf of clients, a role that has become increasingly important as institutional interest in crypto rises.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
29 minutes ago
- CNA
Stocks rise as investors cling to hopes for US rate cuts
SYDNEY/LONDON :Global stocks rose on Monday, boosted by the prospect of lower interest rates, after a weak U.S. jobs report prompted a dramatic re-assessment of the rate outlook and ignited concern over the reliability of U.S. economic data. Friday's U.S. July nonfarm payrolls report missed expectations and revised the figures for May and June sharply lower, sparking a selloff on Wall Street and denting the dollar. By Monday, with the chance of a September rate cut from the Federal Reserve at 85 per cent, some stability returned to the broader market, allowing Europe's STOXX 600 to rise 0.6 per cent in morning trading. The dollar edged up against a basket of six other major currencies. Downward revisions in the payrolls report left the three-month average of jobs growth at 35,000 from 231,000 at the start of the year. "I guess the biggest takeaway from all that is the net revision. We've all seen poor NFP prints in the past, that we can explain away as a 'one-off', but such a chunky net downward revision suggests that this could well be a more pronounced weakening in labour market conditions that is underway," Pepperstone market strategist Michael Brown said. President Donald Trump's decision to fire the head of Labor Statistics in response added an extra layer of nervousness over the credibility of U.S. economic data. News that Trump would get to fill a governorship position at the Fed early added to worries about the politicization of interest rate policy. "It opens the prospect of broader support on the Fed Board for lower rates sooner rather than later," Ray Attrill, head of FX research at NAB, said. "Fed credibility, and the veracity of the statistics on which they base their policy decisions, are both now under the spotlight." Markets have essentially already eased for the Fed, with two-year Treasury yields down almost 25 basis points on Friday in the biggest one-day drop since August last year. DOLLAR DENTED Wall Street futures rose 0.6-0.7 per cent, suggesting some recovery after Friday's washout that drove the S&P 500 down 1.6 per cent and the Nasdaq down 2.2 per cent. The dollar, which fell 1.4 per cent on Friday in its biggest one-day fall since April, rose broadly, leaving the euro down 0.2 per cent at $1.156 and the pound softer at $1.327 ahead of Thursday's Bank of England meeting, at which it is expected to cut rates by a quarter point. The Swiss franc took a beating, leaving the dollar up 0.6 per cent as markets reopened in Zurich after a public holiday on Friday, when Trump announced a 39 per cent tariff on Swiss imports. The dollar was also up 0.4 per cent against the yen at 148 , having shed an eye-watering 2.3 per cent on Friday. In commodity markets, gold was little changed at $3,358 an ounce , having climbed more than 2 per cent on Friday, while oil prices extended their latest slide as OPEC+ agreed to another large rise in output for September.
Business Times
8 hours ago
- Business Times
Why US mortgage lenders are ignoring Trump's rollback on home appraisal reviews
[NEW YORK] At one mid-sized US mortgage lender, almost a quarter of customers who dispute property appraisals find that the value of their home had been miscalculated. It's an industry-wide issue that has historically penalised minority groups, and now US President Donald Trump has offered lenders the chance to ignore his predecessor's attempts to make it easier for homeowners to question the valuations assigned by property appraisers. Trump has scrapped some of the guidelines, part of his team's vow to stamp out what it sees as initiatives that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Many financial professionals agree that home appraisals can be unreliable and that Black homeowners and other minorities are often put at a significant disadvantage. This can be especially damaging given that home ownership is the top wealth-creation tool in the US, and an appraisal is a key determinant of how much, if anything, someone can borrow. With their decision to end some of the requirements related to home valuations, however, Trump and his Cabinet members may have little impact on lenders' practices. That's because there's fresh evidence that the changes the Biden administration put in place are supported by the industry. Some of the country's biggest lenders, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and US Bancorp, said they would make no policy changes as a result of the rollback. New American Funding, which also is not planning to change its approach, was the only financial institution of more than 10 contacted by Bloomberg to disclose information about disputed home valuations. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Tuesday, 12 pm Property Insights Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond. Sign Up Sign Up The Tustin, California-based mortgage lender, which provided roughly US$14 billion of mortgage loans last year, said an average 2.5 per cent of its customers request new valuations each month. Of those contested, roughly 22 per cent are found to need an adjustment. New American did not share a breakdown of borrowers' requests by race. 'The changes have made it much easier for the borrower,' said Michelle Rogers, New American's chief valuation officer. 'It's more transparent and the borrower knows they can initiate it.' The appraisal directives were put in place following a deep dive by the Biden administration into prejudices in the business. One of Trump's housing regulators, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, said rolling them back was part of an attempt by the president to put an end to the 'obsession' with DEI. The administration also has vowed to make deep cuts to the federal apparatus that enforced fair housing and fair lending laws, from slashing Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staff to gutting the Justice Department's Civil Rights division. A HUD official who spoke on background said the department's recent reforms simply reverted its stance to the way things were before Biden-era regulators imposed their standards. Lenders are not being barred from letting borrowers dispute their appraisals, said the official who declined to be identified. The White House has not responded to a request for comment. Black homeowners have long reported having their homes valued more highly after taking down all evidence of their race. Research from the Brookings Institution and the federally controlled housing finance agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has shown that home appraisals can be affected by racial bias, which in turn affects the value of homes in entire neighbourhoods. Brookings found, for example, that homes in neighbourhoods where the majority of residents are Black are valued between 21 per cent and 23 per cent lower than comparable homes in white neighbourhoods, with appraisal bias as one of several contributing factors. Economists at Freddie Mac reported in 2021 that greater percentages of homes in majority Black and Latino census tracts were undervalued compared with those in white census tracts, leading them to conclude that there was a 'valuation gap' between homes in different neighbourhoods. The appraisal problem for minority borrowers is also a problem for lenders, since having low appraisals can prevent a homeowner from qualifying for a mortgage refinancing or a new home loan. That means the lender loses out on valuable business. Banks also suffer when appraisers make mistakes in the opposite direction, valuing properties too highly, because it means the bank cannot safely rely on the value of a property as collateral for a loan. The reforms that the mortgage industry recently adopted to try to make the appraisal process fairer originated with a Biden administration task force called Pave (for Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity), which was formed in 2021. The group consisted of public officials from 13 different agencies, and its goal was to produce a report with recommended changes to a suite of different mortgage industry standards. Pave recommended more training for home appraisers and higher standards for appraisers seeking to qualify for professional licenses. Those changes were handled by the Appraisal Foundation, a non-profit organisation that serves as the regulator for home appraisers. A spokesperson for the foundation declined to comment on the Trump administration's recent changes, but said that new education and licensing standards put in place last year are still in effect. Pave also called for an industrywide requirement for mortgage lenders to let borrowers request 'a reconsideration of value' (ROV) if they disagreed with an appraiser's determination. Last year, regulators began requiring mortgage lenders to decide how they would standardise their procedures and to explain them clearly to their customers. In a rare win for the government, the policy received support from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Federal housing regulation includes a web of rules issued by different agencies, including HUD and also Fannie and Freddie. The new home-appraisal guidance went into effect for all of the housing agencies. But so far, the Trump administration has only rolled back the policy for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, which help low- to moderate-income families attain home ownership. On Jul 17, Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, proposed a bill that would make mortgage lenders' ROV policies required by law. It would also expand public access to data on mortgage appraisals by forcing a federal housing regulator to more regularly share details. While fair-housing advocates support the proposal, the bill also has backing from a more unlikely source: the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. The group represents more than 500,000 mortgage brokers across the US. Its president, Jim Nabors, called the proposed bill 'critical' for ensuring fairness for homebuyers and added: 'Our entire board of directors and membership applaud Senator Warnock.' BLOOMBERG
CNA
8 hours ago
- CNA
Debate grows over truth and control in the age of AI
OpenAI is expected to release its newest GPT model this month as excitement and concern over technology grows. Elon Musk's rival AI chatbot Grok recently sparked outrage for generating antisemitic content, fueling debate about bias in AI. Ira Spitzer reports from Silicon Valley on the growing debate over truth and control in the age of AI.
