BitGo authorizes $50M share repurchase — first crypto infrastructure buyback of 2025

BitGo announced Wednesday that its Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program permitting the company to buy back up to $50 million of its common stock. The authorization marks the first announced buyback program by a qualified crypto custodian in 2025 and the largest capital return commitment by a private digital asset infrastructure company since the FTX collapse reshaped institutional custody standards.

The company disclosed no repurchase timeline, strike price, or completion obligation. BitGo holds licenses as a qualified custodian in South Dakota and New York and processes custody transactions for institutional allocators holding $64 billion in digital assets as of December 2024. The board authorization follows two consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA and comes six weeks after BitGo withdrew its application for a Wyoming SPDI banking charter, citing regulatory uncertainty.

The repurchase program matters because it signals three things allocators track in private digital infrastructure companies. First, BitGo believes its shares trade below intrinsic value in secondary markets where employee liquidity and early venture stakes typically clear. Second, the company holds sufficient unrestricted cash to execute a nine-figure buyback without impairing its regulatory capital cushions in South Dakota and New York — both states require qualified custodians to maintain liquid reserves equal to 100% of assets under custody. Third, BitGo is choosing capital return over acquisition at a moment when smaller custody platforms face balance sheet pressure from the 18-month low in crypto trading volumes and the shift of institutional flow toward four custody oligopolists: BitGo, Coinbase Prime, Anchorage Digital, and Gemini.

The timing matters. BitGo competes directly with Coinbase Custody, which went public via direct listing in April 2021 at a $85 billion fully diluted valuation and now trades at $22 billion — a 74% drawdown that reflects both the crypto bear market and margin compression in custody economics. Anchorage Digital, the only federally chartered crypto bank, closed a $350 million Series D in December 2023 at a reported $3 billion valuation but has not disclosed profitability. BitGo's buyback implies the company believes its private valuation — last marked at $1.75 billion in a 2021 extension round — undervalues its regulated position and EBITDA profile relative to public and late-stage private peers.

Allocators should watch three follow-on events. First, whether BitGo completes the full $50 million authorization within six months or executes opportunistically across 12-18 months — the faster pace would confirm acute undervaluation, the slower pace suggests balance sheet caution. Second, whether Anchorage or other custody platforms announce competing buybacks or secondary liquidity programs for employees, which would signal sector-wide repricing. Third, whether BitGo refiles for a banking charter in Wyoming or another jurisdiction within 90 days, which would indicate the buyback was a capital optimization move ahead of a regulatory capital raise rather than a long-term capital return posture.

BitGo processed $427 billion in transaction volume in 2024, a 19% decline from 2023 but still the second-highest annual total in company history. The custody platform charges basis-point fees on assets under management and transaction flow, which means revenue scales with both volatility and institutional adoption. The $50 million authorization represents roughly 2.9% of BitGo's last private valuation, small enough to preserve optionality for M&A or a banking charter capital raise, large enough to move secondary share pricing if the company executes aggressively in Q2.