The first bell of 2026, why did Wall Street give up the "C position" to a "coin-holding" company?

At 9:30 AM Eastern Time on January 22, the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange rang with an extra metallic clang—that was the echo of 60 million private keys colliding in safes.

BitGo (ticker: BTGO), priced at $18, opened at $22.43, a 25% jump that isn't epic but flooded trader groups with messages: "Don't look at the K-line, look at the foundation of a new track."

1. Why is BitGo's IPO considered a "public offering of crypto water, electricity, and coal"?

1. Asset side: $16 billion AUM, 4,900 institutional clients, with 8 of the top 10 ETF issuers among them.

2. Revenue side: stripping out "pass-through money," core net income in 2025 was $196 million, with 48% from subscriptions, gross margin >70%—a typical SaaS curve.

3. Regulatory side: holding dual trust licenses in South Dakota and New York, one of the few native crypto companies on the SEC "qualified custodian" whitelist.

In summary: whether Bitcoin rises or falls, it collects rent; whether ETFs are hot or not, it earns commissions—packaging "water, electricity, and coal" into a single stock.

2. Is a 10× PS valuation expensive or not?

Horizontal comparison:

• Coinbase's market cap / net income ≈ 8×, but 80% of revenue from trading, highly cyclical;

• Traditional custodian giant BNY Mellon ≈ 12×, with only single-digit growth;

• BitGo's three-year net income CAGR of 54%, a 10× valuation just falls between "growth stocks" and "financial stocks."

Vertical comparison:

In 2026, pledged assets + stablecoin-as-a-service (SCaaS) are expected to contribute an additional $50 million, bringing PS down to 7.6×—as long as ETF funds keep flowing in, valuation can quickly be diluted.

Wall Street's biggest fear isn't high prices but lack of clarity. BitGo breaks down revenue into "subscriptions + staking + clearing," each aligned with traditional finance counterparts, making the model naturally prone to premium.

3. Tokenized stocks: a "DeFi Trojan Horse"

On the listing day, BitGo moved 1% of circulating shares on-chain via Ondo Finance, tradable on Ethereum/Solana/BNB Chain simultaneously.

Don't underestimate this 1%; it turns "Nasdaq T+2 clearing" into "block time of 12 seconds." Potential uses include:

• Using BTGO stock as collateral to borrow USDC and leverage;

• On-chain ETFs, one-click combining BitGo + Coinbase + MicroStrategy "crypto index";

• 24-hour trading, allowing Asian users to avoid US stock market hours.

Compliance + native integration: SEC-registered ISIN code on one side, 0x starting contract address on the other, giving BitGo a "TradFi/DeFi" dual fee model.

4. The hidden trend of the 2026 IPO wave: infrastructure > applications

From 2025's Bullish, Circle, Gemini to 2026 led by BitGo, SEC review criteria are clearly "heavy assets, heavy compliance, heavy recurring revenue."

According to PitchBook, at least 7 more crypto IPOs are in line, all focusing on "infrastructure":

• Kraken: trading + custody dual engine, valuation may hit $15 billion;

• Consensys: packaging Infura + Linea + MetaMask into "Ethereum AWS";

• Ledger: 120 million private key chips, hardware sales are just the entry point, followed by subscription recovery services.

Market logic has shifted from "whose users are more" to "whose private keys are more." After all, users may leave, but the AUM accumulated from private keys won't.

5. How should retail investors seize this wave of benefits?

4. Want to jump in directly: BTGO at $22 currently only corresponds to a 1.5× PEG, below the average high-beta crypto stock, suitable for building a position on dips with a 15% stop-loss—but it still follows market swings.

5. Want to diversify risk: after BitGo is included in the Nasdaq Financial Select, indirectly holding via ETFs (like XLF) reduces single-stock impact.

6. Want leverage: keep an eye on the on-chain BTGO tokenized pool; once Aave/Compound list it as collateral, you can use "stock → stablecoin → high-yield DeFi" nested layers—but remember to calculate liquidation lines carefully.

7. Want to mine early: BitGo has opened the "SCaaS" whitelist to help institutions issue stablecoins; ordinary players can participate in node validation or insurance funds to earn staking + penalty rewards.

6. The lingering echo of the bell

Ten years ago, BitGo's first multi-sig code was in a garage in Palo Alto;

Ten years later, that same code sustains 4,900 institutions, $16 billion in assets, and nearly $200 million in net income.

It tells the market: selling shovels isn't a fallback but turning cycles into compound interest.

The crypto story of 2026 is no longer just "hundred-bagger coins," but more like this phrase—

"No matter bull or bear market, as long as private keys stay in safes, the bell can keep ringing."

If you think this "steady happiness" is worth noticing,

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And leave a comment:

#BitGo IPO, will you buy its stock or keep buying Bitcoin?

See you in the comments!