BitGo CEO Mike Belshe has pushed back against Sen. Elizabeth Warren after she questioned the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s approval of national trust charters for crypto firms.
In an open letter shared on X on Wednesday, Belshe argued that BitGo should not be described as a “crypto bank” because it does not take deposits, lend customer assets, or engage in fractional reserve banking. Instead, he said the company operates as a fiduciary custodian that holds client assets in segregated, bankruptcy-remote accounts under federal trust law.
Belshe says BitGo is a custodian, not a bank
Belshe’s response came a day after Warren sent a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency raising concerns that recent charter approvals could allow crypto firms to gain banking privileges without meeting the standards applied to traditional lenders.
According to Belshe, this comparison misunderstands how BitGo operates. He said the company does not use customer assets for lending or trading. Each asset remains the property of the client, with BitGo acting solely as a custodian with fiduciary duties under OCC supervision. “If a crypto bank means a firm that takes deposits and lends them out, BitGo does none of those things,” Belshe wrote.
National trust charter at the center of the debate
BitGo received a national trust charter from the OCC, allowing it to provide custody and fiduciary services on a federal basis.
Belshe said this charter places the company within a long-established legal framework used by trust institutions to safeguard client property, including securities, precious metals, and other non-cash assets. He argued that trust banks are subject to a different regulatory model because they do not take on the liquidity and credit risks associated with deposit-taking institutions.
Belshe also highlighted BitGo’s reserve practices, particularly for stablecoin clients. He said reserves backing stablecoins are held in full and are not lent or pledged. To support those claims, BitGo conducts auditor-backed attestations twice each month, in addition to quarterly and annual audits. Belshe argued that this level of transparency exceeds the reporting cadence used by most depository banks.
Response to Warren’s consumer protection concerns
Warren’s letter cited the collapses of firms such as FTX, Celsius Network, and Voyager Digital as evidence that crypto firms can pose significant risks to customers. Belshe said those failures stemmed from commingling and lending customer assets rather than from regulated custody.
He argued that federally supervised trust companies offer the structural safeguards that were missing in those cases, including asset segregation and fiduciary obligations that keep customer property separate from a company’s own balance sheet.
BitGo points to global regulatory footprint
Belshe noted that BitGo has spent years obtaining licenses and approvals in multiple jurisdictions, including South Dakota, New York, Switzerland, Germany, Dubai, and Singapore. He said the OCC charter represents a continuation of that approach rather than an attempt to avoid oversight.
BitGo also serves institutional clients such as asset managers, pension funds, and ETF issuers that require regulated custodians.
Debate over how crypto firms should be regulated
The exchange between Warren and Belshe reflects a broader debate over whether digital asset custody firms should be regulated like banks or under trust and fiduciary frameworks. Belshe argued that the distinction should depend on what a firm does with client assets rather than on the fact that those assets are digital. He said companies that hold assets one-for-one in custody should be treated differently from institutions that lend or rehypothecate customer funds.
Belshe closed the letter by inviting Warren and her staff to meet with BitGo to discuss the company’s structure and oversight in greater detail.
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