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YZi Labs, the investment firm backed by Changpeng Zhao, has taken a strategic stake in BitGo’s initial public offering, backing the crypto custodian as it debuted Thursday as a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange.
In a Thursday announcement, YZi Labs said its participation in the IPO reflects a conviction that U.S.-regulated crypto infrastructure will be “inevitably vital” as institutional capital increasingly moves onto digital asset rails.
Yzi Labs, however, did not disclose the size of its investment in the IPO, but said it is participating in the offering as a strategic institutional investor in BitGo.
The investment comes as BitGo’s public market debut drew attention from investors. On its first day of trading, BitGo shares surged sharply in early NYSE trading before retracing much of those gains. The stock, trading under ticker BTGO, closed up 2.72% on Thursday.
BitGo is one of the best-known names in institutional crypto custody, providing custody and related services such as staking and stablecoin issuance. The company said it currently safeguards about $82 billion in assets on its platform and serves more than 5,100 institutional clients across over 100 countries.
YZi Labs, formerly known as Binance Labs, said it views BitGo’s regulated trust structure and long-standing security record as key differentiators.
“BitGo has maintained a hack-free security record for over a decade, a testament to the technical foundation laid by its inventor and CEO, Mike Belshe — not only a Bitcoin OG but a pioneer architect of the modern web through his early work at Netscape and Google Chrome,” said Ella Zhang, head of YZi Labs, in the statement.
BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said YZi Labs’ backing represents more than financial support. “YZi Labs’ strategic investment is not just a backing; it is a shared commitment to a future built on compliant, institutional-grade infrastructure,” said Belshe. “By combining BitGo’s no-compromises approach to security technology with Binance and BNB ecosystem’s global market reach, we are setting the standard for how the world’s capital enters this space.”
