A crypto layoff with a strategy attached: BitGo is shrinking in one direction and growing in another.
The cuts
BitGo is laying off about 15% of its workforce — roughly 90 employees against a headcount of around 600 at the end of 2025 — Cointelegraph reported. Co-founder and chief executive Mike Belshe called it "a one-time action" and said no further cuts are planned. Tellingly, the company is hiring at the same time, with dozens of open roles — a sign this is a reallocation of people toward new priorities rather than a retreat.
The pivot
Belshe said BitGo will concentrate on "security, trading, stablecoins, settlement, and AI-powered infrastructure." The two headline bets — stablecoins and AI — are where institutional crypto is competing hardest right now. The U.S. GENIUS Act, the 2025 law setting reserve and disclosure rules for dollar-pegged tokens, has pulled banks and asset managers toward regulated stablecoins, and custodians are racing to become the settlement layer for those flows. The "AI" piece is mostly about automating the back office — compliance checks, transaction monitoring and settlement that once needed large teams.
Who BitGo is
Founded in 2013, BitGo safeguards and settles digital assets for institutions such as hedge funds and exchanges, with roughly $90 billion of crypto on its platform. It listed on the New York Stock Exchange in January 2026, pricing its IPO at $18 a share for a valuation near $2 billion; the stock has since fallen well below that level, reflecting broad investor caution toward newly public crypto-infrastructure firms. In December 2025 it won conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to convert into a national trust bank — a federal charter that would expand how it can hold client assets.
The bigger picture
BitGo's move fits an industry-wide pattern: thousands of crypto jobs have been cut in 2026 across firms including Coinbase, Kraken and others, even as on-chain volumes and stablecoin issuance hit records. The message is consistent — companies are trimming general overhead while doubling down on a few high-margin, technology-driven lines, above all stablecoin settlement. Analysts have also floated BitGo as a possible acquisition target for traditional financial institutions seeking ready-made crypto infrastructure.
What it means
For the sector, the episode marks a maturing phase: the era of hiring broadly to chase every corner of crypto is giving way to specialization around regulated stablecoins and automated compliance. Those are plausibly the most durable, bank-like revenue lines in digital assets — but BitGo's share-price slide since January is a reminder that public-market investors still want to see that strategic optionality turn into actual earnings. This is reporting on a corporate restructuring, not investment advice.
