BitGo, the institutional crypto custodian holding over $90 billion in digital assets in custody, announced on June 25 a nearly 15% workforce reduction: roughly 90 roles based on the 603 full-time employees it reported at year-end 2025. The cuts, disclosed in an SEC Form 8-K the same day, reflect a consolidation thesis spreading across institutional crypto infrastructure: firms redirecting headcount toward stablecoins and AI-powered operations and away from the support functions automation can replace.
CEO Mike Belshe announced the decision on X and in the filing: "Today I'm sharing a hard decision: we are reducing our workforce by nearly 15%." He named five priority areas absorbing the remaining headcount: security, trading, stablecoins, settlement, and AI-powered infrastructure. Belshe described it as "a one-time action" with no further reductions anticipated. Fifty-one open positions remain, weighted toward engineering, compliance, and security.
On stablecoins, BitGo is building reserve management tools and institutional settlement rails as regulated stablecoin adoption deepens among corporate treasury and payments clients. The company already runs off-exchange settlement services; the pivot extends that stack with purpose-built stablecoin infrastructure. On AI, the application is internal: automating risk monitoring, compliance review, client workflows, reconciliation, and security alerting. The goal is to service a larger custody book with fewer people, not to launch consumer AI products.
The move fits a pattern across institutional crypto and broader tech. Coinbase cut roughly 14% of its workforce earlier in 2026 to shift toward AI-native operations. Dune Analytics trimmed 25% of staff citing AI efficiencies. More than 119,000 tech workers across 196 companies have lost jobs in 2026. The shared thesis: smaller teams using automation cover expanded operations, while capital concentrates in settlement and compliance layers where institutional clients sign long contracts.
BitGo went public at $18 per share in January 2026. Its stock closed at $4.80 on June 25, down 4.76% on the day.
