NEAR Foundation is excited to announce its partnership with BitGo, the leader in digital asset financial services, as its first qualified and secure custodian to support the Protocol. This partnership will enable institutions to custody their tokens on BitGo’s platform using hot wallets and Qualified Custody wallets. BitGo clients will also be able to stake NEAR tokens and earn rewards through their BitGo wallets.

“BitGo is proud to become the first qualified custodian to provide services to the entire NEAR Protocol ecosystem, including holders of the NEAR token who have been searching for a secure way to store and stake their assets,” says Mike Belshe, BitGo CEO. “We are excited to deliver them safe and secure custody and staking services for their NEAR tokens and other valuable assets.”

BitGo shares with NEAR Foundation a commitment to the evolution of the Open Web.

Currently, BitGo is the largest processor of on-chain Bitcoin transactions, processing a whopping 20% (approximately) of all Bitcoin transactions around the world and supports over 500 other coins and tokens, now including the NEAR token. NEAR is so confident in BitGo that the Foundation has chosen to custody its own treasury with them and stake part of this treasury using BitGo’s wallets. 

Customers of BitGo include the largest exchanges of crypto-assets in the world as well as institutional investors across 50+ countries. Backed by Goldman Sachs, Craft Ventures, Digital Currency Group, DRW, Galaxy Digital Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners, BitGo is the global leader in digital asset financial services, providing liquidity, custody, and security solutions. 

NEAR Foundation CEO Marieke Flament sees the BitGo partnership as proof of the community’s commitment to widening the ecosystem, as well as creating a more diverse community of users.

“This is a significant step for NEAR and its foray into the world of institutional investments,” Flament adds. “With BitGo, we will support their clients’ investors and give them the ability to stake and earn rewards on their NEAR assets, both safely and securely. We are also putting our confidence into BitGo and putting our own treasury in its custody because it is simply the best at what it does.”

Together we can truly make significant inroads in broadening the number of people leveraging our ecosystem and ultimately bring us closer to achieving our goal for mass web3 adoption.”

In 2020 BitGO launched Prime Trading and Lending, in addition to BitGo Portfolio and Tax,  providing clients with a full-stack solution for digital assets. In 2018, it launched BitGo Trust Company, the first qualified custodian purpose-built for storing digital assets. Approaching a decade since its 2013 inception, BitGo, like NEAR, is in it for the long-haul. 

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