YZi Labs, the venture investment firm backed by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, has taken a strategic position in BitGo’s initial public offering, supporting the crypto custody firm as it began trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.
The investment was confirmed in a statement released the same day, with YZi Labs describing its participation as a long-term bet on regulated crypto infrastructure in the United States. While the firm did not disclose the size of its stake, it said it joined the offering as a strategic institutional investor.
— YZi Labs (@yzilabs) January 23, 2026
BitGo’s market debut drew early attention from traders. Shares of the company, listed under the ticker BTGO, rose sharply in early trading before giving back some gains. The stock finished the session up 2.72%, reflecting a measured but positive response from the market.
Founded in 2013, BitGo is widely recognized as one of the leading providers of institutional crypto custody. The company offers services that include asset custody, staking, and stablecoin issuance. According to BitGo, it currently safeguards around $82 billion in assets and serves more than 5,100 institutional clients across over 100 countries.
YZi Labs, formerly known as Binance Labs, highlighted BitGo’s regulated trust structure and long-standing security track record as key reasons for its support. The firm pointed to BitGo’s decade-long, hack-free history as a differentiator in an industry where security remains a central concern.
Ella Zhang, head of YZi Labs, credited BitGo’s technical leadership and founder-led vision, noting CEO Mike Belshe’s background as both an early Bitcoin advocate and a veteran internet architect with experience at Netscape and Google Chrome.
For BitGo, the backing represents more than capital. CEO Mike Belshe said the investment signals alignment around building compliant, institutional-grade infrastructure for digital assets. He emphasized that combining BitGo’s security-first approach with the global reach of the Binance and BNB ecosystem could help shape how large pools of capital enter the crypto market.
As institutional interest in digital assets continues to grow, BitGo’s public listing and YZi Labs’ involvement underscore a broader shift toward regulated, transparent platforms designed to meet the expectations of traditional finance.
