BitGo Holdings and 21Shares, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange-traded product issuers globally, expanded their existing partnership on Thursday to cover staking and custody services across the U.S. and Europe.
The deal comes three weeks after BitGo's NYSE debut - and with its stock already trading 39% below the $18 IPO price.
Under the expanded agreement, BitGo will provide qualified custody, trading execution, and integrated staking infrastructure for 21Shares' U.S. exchange-traded funds and global ETPs.
21Shares, a subsidiary of prime broker FalconX, currently manages 59 products listed across 13 exchanges with roughly $5.4 billion in assets under management.
What Changed
BitGo has served as a custodian for 21Shares since September 2024, when the issuer diversified away from Coinbase as its sole custody provider for the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin (BTC) ETF (ARKB) and the 21Shares Core Ethereum (ETH) ETF (CETH).
Anchorage Digital Bank joined at the same time.
The new expansion adds staking services and extends the arrangement to 21Shares' broader European ETP lineup. BitGo will deliver these through its regulated entities: the OCC-chartered BitGo Bank & Trust in the U.S. and its MiCA-licensed operations authorized by Germany's BaFin for the EU.
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Why It Matters
The deal fits a broader pattern of custody platforms bundling staking into core offerings.
In recent weeks, Coinbase expanded its staking integration with infrastructure provider Figment, Ripple added hardware security module support for bank custodians, and Hong Kong-based Hex Trust integrated Jito's liquid staking token on Solana.
For crypto ETF issuers, staking is becoming a revenue question. 21Shares' Ethereum ETF filed in December to begin distributing staking rewards in cash to shareholders at least quarterly in 2026 - a shift from its prior no-distribution policy.
Competitive staking infrastructure from custodians like BitGo could directly affect the yield these products pass to investors.
The BitGo Context
BitGo went public on Jan. 22 at $18 per share, raising roughly $213 million and becoming the first crypto-native infrastructure company listed on the NYSE.
The stock hit $24.50 on its first day but has since dropped to around $11, giving the firm a market capitalization near $1.3 billion - well below the initial $2.1 billion valuation.
The partnership expansion gives BitGo a client-facing data point as it works to justify that valuation.
But the custody landscape is crowded: Coinbase, Anchorage Digital, and Fireblocks all compete for the same institutional staking business and are building deeper ETF relationships of their own.
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