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BitGo Joins Fortune 500 with $16.2B Revenue, Marking Milestone for Regulated Bitcoin Infrastructure

Bitcoin Magazine BitGo Joins Fortune 500 with $16.2B Revenue, Marking Milestone for Regulated Bitcoin Infrastructure CEO Mike Belshe’s firm, now operating as a federally chartered OCC trust bank, powers custody for major Bitcoin ETFs, stablecoins like World Liberty Financial’s USD1, and SoFiUSD, highlighting institutional adoption of regulated crypto infrastructure. This post BitGo Joins Fortune 500 with $16.2B Revenue, Marking Milestone for Regulated Bitcoin Infrastructure first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt .

Bitcoin MagazineBitcoin Magazine•Juan Galt15 Jun

DeFi rides Pokémon trading card boom as onchain marketplaces bring in $11m

A version of this story appeared in The Decentralised newsletter on May 5. Sign up here. GM, Tim here. Decentralised finance is notorious for being home to some pretty wacky ideas with dubious commercial viability. Yet over the past year, developers have stumbled on one that not only works, but also happens to be quite profitable: letting users buy and sell virtual versions of trading cards. Onchain marketplaces that allow users to speculate on the prices of Pokémon, One Piece, and sports cards have soared over the past year. They generated a combined $11 million in revenue last month, according to data from DefiLlama, generated on its new Pro dashboard . Revenue on DeFi TCG marketplaces is up more than 9X year-over-year, with top marketplaces generating over $11M in April. Chart created with DefiLlama Pro pic.twitter.com/3pUpFnQMhM — DefiLlama.com (@DefiLlama) May 4, 2026 That’s no small sum for an idea that was basically unproven just over a year ago. The success comes as trading cards — particularly Pokémon — continue their popularity. Nostalgia, financial speculation, and a post-pandemic boom in collectibles have caused prices to soar in recent years. Pokémon cards, as measured through the Card Ladder Index, have produced a roughly 4,000% cumulative return since 2004, vastly outperforming the S&P 500, an index of the top 500 US stocks, which is up 513% over the same period. Pokémon card factories are operating at maximum capacity. Despite producing over 10 billion cards annually, they cannot keep up with demand, resulting in ongoing shortages. Packs of cards from popular sets now routinely resell for more than their recommended retail price, fuelling speculation from investors. Logistical issues For avid collectors, buying and selling trading cards comes with a host of logistical problems. Like most markets for collectables, illiquidity makes it difficult to buy and sell at scale, and often involves additional costs such as auction and postage fees. Those issues are exacerbated for those who want to invest larger amounts. It’s not uncommon for investors looking to play the trading card market to buy hundreds of the same card, or shipping pallets of unopened packs in the hope they will be worth more in the future. So, it makes sense for investors who want to trade the red hot market to gravitate to DeFi platforms that offer exposure without having to hold onto the cards themselves. Most platforms work similarly. Users send cards and boxes of sealed packs to the companies, who verify their authenticity, store them, and issue digital versions on blockchains like Solana and Polygon as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. It’s reminiscent of how gold exchange-traded funds made buying and selling the yellow metal cheaper and more accessible, albeit on a much smaller scale. Many platforms also offer so-called gacha machines that mimic the experience of opening packs of cards. Users pay a set price and receive a random card in the machine, which could be of a higher value than the price paid, the platforms say. Redemption delays The question among both investors and those running onchain marketplaces is whether the trading card gravy train will continue. Pokémon card prices have gone up a lot already. Charizard cards from the first ever set of Pokémon cards produced in 1999 can sell for up to $550,000 in perfect condition. The same cards could be bought for between $1,500 and $2,000 around 10 years ago. If prices start to fall, the NFTs that represent the cards could see steeper declines than the rest of the market. Although platforms let users redeem their digital trading cards for real ones, there’s a delay in doing so — the cards have to be shipped to their owners, after all. If investors rush to exit the market, they will likely be willing to sell the NFT cards for less than the current market rate to account for the delay. Yet for now, the trading card mania shows little sign of slowing. Top DeFi stories of the week This week in DeFi governance VOTE: World Liberty Financial supporters vote to unlock tokens for founders, team, and early investors VOTE: Lido DAO votes on proposal to use first-loss mechanism to cover Kelp DAO-related losses VOTE: Arbitrum DAO votes to approve release of Ether frozen following Kelp DAO hack Post of the week Crypto Twitter reacts as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cuts 700 jobs and boasts that non-technical employees at his company are using AI to write and ship code. pic.twitter.com/wS9AkezYg2 — VKTR (@0xVKTR) May 5, 2026 Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com .

DLNewsDLNews•Tim Craig5 May

Strategy shares soar 50% in a month as Bitcoin tops $80,000 ahead of Q1 earnings call

Strategy is on a tear. Shares of the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder have surged more than 50% over the past month, riding the top crypto’s climb past $80,000 as short sellers scramble for the exits and institutional money pours back in. On Monday, MSTR jumped another 4% to nearly $184 per share, adding to a 7% surge on Friday. After-hours trading suggests the stock’s price has inched up at least another 2% ahead of Strategy’s first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. The rally comes amid renewed institutional demand. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds drew $827 million in the first two trading days of May alone, extending a two-month winning streak, DefiLlama data shows . Over $200 million in short positions were liquidated in a single day as the rally gathered pace. Strategy shares are seen as a leveraged bet on Bitcoin, and the firm's stock price closely tracks the top crypto. Bitcoin's rally above $80,000 is sound, according to Jake Kennis, senior research analyst at Nansen. He told DL News that the funding rate — a key measure of market temperature — sits at a healthy 0.00045% hourly, well below the overheated readings that typically precede a sharp correction. "With $2.4 billion in open interest and daily perpetual volume of $3.4 billion outpacing spot turnover, derivatives are clearly playing a significant role in price discovery around this level," Kennis said. "The moderate funding rate and balanced buy/sell ratio don't indicate extreme leverage build-up that would suggest a major pullback." Q1 earnings call All eyes now turn to Strategy's first quarter financial results. Consensus voices expect revenue of around $125 million, up from $115 million a year earlier, alongside an accounting loss tied to Bitcoin's price swings and financing costs. But investors are paying less attention to the income statement than to the capital markets machine Saylor has built underneath it. Strategy has quietly transformed from a software company with a Bitcoin position into a financing vehicle built to convert market demand into Bitcoin exposure. The engine driving that machine is STRC — Strategy's Bitcoin-backed preferred stock, paying a variable dividend of around 11.5% annually — which has grown to $8.5 billion in notional value in under nine months. "The world's $300 trillion credit market is a much bigger opportunity than the world's roughly $2 trillion Bitcoin market, and Strategy has built the first product to bridge the two," Michael Saylor, Strategy's founder and Executive Chairman, told the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas last week. BlackRock's iShares Preferred & Income Securities ETF has already taken a $210 million position in STRC. Saylor says the instrument has financed the acquisition of roughly 77,000 Bitcoin so far this year — ten times the net inflow of all US spot Bitcoin ETFs combined over the same period. “STRC is a battery that stores Bitcoin gains and distributes them over time,” said Strategy CEO Phong Le. Strategy did pause its Bitcoin buying streak ahead of Tuesday's earnings — only the second such break this year, according to Saylor. Its most recent purchase added 3,273 Bitcoin at an average price of around $77,900. Strategy is scheduled to release its first quarter financial results at 10 pm London time or 5 pm US Eastern time on Tuesday. Saylor has promised a live question-and-answer session, with notable guests to be announced. Crypto market movers Bitcoin is up 0.7% over the past 24 hours at $80,886. Ethereum is down 0.5% over the past few hours at $2,381. What we’re reading Aave secures emergency hearing to void ‘catastrophic’ restraining order — DL News Clarity Act odds surge on stablecoin compromise, Coinbase support — DL News World Liberty Financial Quietly Sold Billions in Tokens as Early Investors Remained Locked Out — Unchained $80K: we got there. Now what? — Milk Road Ethereum devs huddled in the Arctic Circle to fix the network. Here’s what to know — DL News Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com

DLNewsDLNews•Lance Datskoluo5 May

Elizabeth Warren slams Trump after expose ties World Liberty Financial to crypto projects linked to human trafficking group

Elizabeth Warren has lashed out against World Liberty Financial over news that the Trump family-run crypto company partnered with a blockchain venture called AB, which has links to a sanctioned criminal syndicate. The Democrat senator’s comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported that two men linked to AB were sanctioned by the Trump administration for their alleged ties to the Prince Group. The Prince Group is accused of running crypto scam compounds and human trafficking operations out of Cambodia. The AB network has not been accused of criminality and has removed the men from the project. There is no suggestion that illicit funds flowed into the resort project the two men were involved with, per Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Guardian Australia's reporting from earlier in April. The two men have not been charged with any crime. “As the Trump family puts themselves first, Congress needs to ensure that digital asset legislation protects our national security,” Warren said in a Thursday X post. The Massachusetts senator’s comments highlight how US President Donald Trump’s political rivals are increasingly using crypto to attack him and his political allies ahead of the crucial midterm elections in November. It comes as the crypto industry has spent over $319 million to influence the 2026 elections, according to Follow The Crypto. For World Liberty Financial, The Wall Street Journal report marks another setback. Over the past few weeks, it has found itself embroiled in a legal battle with Justin Sun, a crypto mogul and one of the firm’s biggest supporters. World Liberty Financial was launched in 2024 and co-founded by various members of Trump’s family, namely his three sons, as well as the sons of billionaire real estate developer Steve Witkoff, who serves as the White House’s special envoy to the Middle East. The White House and World Liberty Financial have said that Trump and Witkoff have no role in the company’s decision-making. What is AB? In November, AB announced a collaboration with the Trump family’s project that would see World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin USD1 deployed on the AB Chain. However, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the controlling shareholder and general manager of one of its projects — a planned blockchain-themed resort in Timor-Leste — had been led by two men sanctioned by the US over their alleged links to the Prince Group. In November, Prince Group said in a statement that the firm categorically rejects the notion that it engaged in any unlawful activity. Prince Group told The Wall Street Journal that neither its founder nor the group has any connection with AB or Timor-Leste or any activity in the country. A lawyer for World Liberty Financial told The Wall Street Journal that it has never had any association or relationship with the sanctioned individuals and that it had no knowledge of the planned resort when it announced its arrangement with AB. The arrangement wasn’t a partnership but a “limited non-exclusive technology integration” and that the due diligence World Liberty Financial conducted was proportional with the nature of the arrangement, the lawyer told The Wall Street Journal . The Trump family’s crypto project didn’t identify any sanctioned individuals, he said. "Claims attempting to link World Liberty Financial with sanctioned individuals are unfounded and untrue," World Liberty Financial lawyers told OCCRP and Guardian Australia earlier in April. "[World Liberty Financial] has no relationship or association with any of these sanctioned individuals or the Timor-Leste project.” An AB spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the arrangement with World Liberty Financial wasn’t related to the sanctioned men as the planned resort was an independent entity. He said that AB terminated a preliminary agreement with the project after the US sanctions were announced. The AB spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that it informed World Liberty Financial about the men when the company approached AB about the matter. The general manager of the planned resort told The Wall Street Journal that he had never had any business dealings with the Prince Group. Lawyers of the controlling shareholder of the project, have previously said that he wasn’t affiliated with the Prince Group, The Wall Street Journal reported. World Liberty Financial, AB and Prince Group didn’t immediately respond to DL News’ requests for comment. DL News could not immediately reach the two sanctioned men for comment. Eric Johansson is DL News’ managing editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com .

DLNewsDLNews•Eric Johansson30 Apr

Massive Coinbase News! Bitcoin Rips to $96,750! Football.Fun TGE Interview with Founder!

Crypto majors are very green with Bitcoin making a new another 2-month high; BTC +2% at $96,7500; ETH +2% at $3,360, SOL even at $145; XRP -1% to $2.11. DCR (+30%), DASH (+10%), ICP (+10%) and ZEC (+7%) led top movers; XMR hit another new ATH at $800 before retracing to $725. Coinbase pulled support for the Senate’s crypto market structure bill ahead of a key vote, citing major concerns with the latest draft, leading to the Senate delaying the bill. Zcash avoided SEC action after the Zcash Foundation said the agency’s investigation has concluded. Ripple secured a Luxembourg license as its European expansion continued. Pakistan teamed with World Liberty Financial to explore stablecoin use cases for remittances and cross-border payments. The Human Rights Foundation awarded nearly $1.3M in Bitcoin grants to projects tied to human rights and freedom tech. Figure unveiled a new public equity network designed to enable on-chain issuance of stocks and related assets. FTX prepared another round of creditor payments and outlined timing details for the next distribution on March 31. Sui came back online after a nearly six-hour network stall, marking another reliability test for the chain.

DecryptDecrypt15 Jan

Pump & Memes HEATING up! XMR vs ZEC! How important are these rate cuts? - Under Exposed

Crypto majors are green; BTC +1.5% at $92,000; ETH +1% at $3,130, SOL +2% at $142; XRP +1% to $2.06. DASH (+60%), IP (+30%) and XMR (+13%) led top movers; XMR hit another new ATH at $680 (now $640). Gold and Silver hit new ATHs again in the wake of the Powell investigation. The US Senate released the draft Crypto Market Clarity Act, including limits on stablecoin rewards. Senator Warren pressed the SEC over inclusion of crypto in 401ks arguing they expose retirees to too much risk. Vitalik Buterin warned crypto needs better decentralized stablecoins, citing governance capture and inflation risks. World Liberty Financial launched a crypto lending platform built around its USD1 stablecoin, attracting ~$20M. BitGo filed for a U.S. IPO targeting a ~$2B valuation as custody assets surpassed $100B. Tennessee regulators ordered Polymarket, Kalshi, and Crypto.com to halt sports prediction markets and refund users, escalating a multi-state legal fight.

DecryptDecrypt14 Jan

PsyopAnime Meme up 30X! Are Memes back? Monero ATH! Interview W/ Joseph Chalom, CEO of Sharplink

Crypto majors are green; BTC +1.5% at $92,000; ETH +1% at $3,130, SOL +2% at $142; XRP +1% to $2.06. DASH (+60%), IP (+30%) and XMR (+13%) led top movers; XMR hit another new ATH at $680 (now $640). Gold and Silver hit new ATHs again in the wake of the Powell investigation. The US Senate released the draft Crypto Market Clarity Act, including limits on stablecoin rewards. Senator Warren pressed the SEC over inclusion of crypto in 401ks arguing they expose retirees to too much risk. Vitalik Buterin warned crypto needs better decentralized stablecoins, citing governance capture and inflation risks. World Liberty Financial launched a crypto lending platform built around its USD1 stablecoin, attracting ~$20M. BitGo filed for a U.S. IPO targeting a ~$2B valuation as custody assets surpassed $100B. Tennessee regulators ordered Polymarket, Kalshi, and Crypto.com to halt sports prediction markets and refund users, escalating a multi-state legal fight.

DecryptDecrypt13 Jan