On its website, Bitgo touts itself as "(t)he leader in security, compliance, and custodial solutions for blockchain-based currencies." Indeed 48-year old Bitgo founder Mike Belshe is a grandaddy of the crypto industry, having been CEO of the firm since 2013, when digital currencies were still in their infancy. Bitgo enjoys a sterling reputation within the digital assets space and was one of the original firms who partnered with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the UK Royal Mint on the now defunct RMG digitized gold-backed token program. The firm has since expanded beyond their military-grade wallets into custody, private blockchains, APIs and more. According to Bloomberg, they have also entered into an agreement to allow Genesis Global Trading's customers to buy and sell digital assets without ever leaving cold storage. Another major innovation from this firm, backed by Goldman Sachs, Mike Novogratz and others.

Keep your eyes on Bitgo, always.

Cindy Taylor/Publisher

"Big investors who’ve soured on cryptocurrencies because of the industry’s billion-dollar theft problem will soon have a new way to trade that’s touted as a safer solution.

By the end of the month, BitGo Inc.’s customers will be able to buy or sell Bitcoin, Ether and other digital assets without the coins ever leaving cold storage -- in other words, they’ll stay on devices not connected to the internet, making them harder to steal. BitGo is offering this through a partnership with Genesis Global Trading Inc., a trading firm.

Hacking is a major problem. Almost $1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies was stolen in the first nine months of last year, according to blockchain security firm CipherTrace. Crypto prices have plunged over the past year, and the big, institutional clients BitGo wants to lure in could bring enough trading firepower to fuel a rebound.

BitGo wants to “introduce market structure to crypto that’s never existed before,” Chief Executive Officer Mike Belshe said in an interview. Being able to buy or sell in offline-mode means coins aren’t sent to exchanges, cutting the risk of theft, human error or running afoul of compliance requirements, he added.

Genesis Trading will match BitGo customer’s buy and sell orders, CEO Michael Moro said. Trading coins in cold storage could reduce another problem for investors: the risk that prices move against them during the day or two it currently takes to load the coins into an exchange’s hot wallet so they can be traded. “Hot wallets are online, so hackers can do whatever they do to get the coins,” Moro said. Genesis will make money from the deal by keeping the difference in prices to buy and sell, what’s known as the bid-offer spread, he said...."

Full story at FA-mag.com This article was provided by Bloomberg News.