Markets · Custody
BitGo said eligible institutional clients of its national trust bank can lock up bitcoin they keep in its custody and receive rewards paid in bitcoin. The offer starts with a short list of approved partners, and BitGo said rewards are not guaranteed.
Big holders of bitcoin have mostly had two choices: leave the coins sitting in custody earning nothing, or hand them to someone else to put to work. On Tuesday BitGo said eligible clients of its national trust bank can now earn rewards paid in bitcoin while the coins stay in its custody, through what it calls staking, locking up coins for a set time in exchange for rewards from a blockchain network [1][2].
"Bitcoin staking from BitGo Bank & Trust, N.A. accounts is here," the company posted on X at 11:57 a.m. EST. "Eligible qualified custody clients can now earn BTC rewards on bitcoin that stays in BitGo Bank & Trust custody" [2]. A qualified custodian is the kind of regulated firm that fund rules and investment committees often require to hold client assets. BitGo describes BitGo Bank & Trust, National Association, as "a national trust bank chartered and regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)" [1].
For now the door is narrow. BitGo said the service "is currently limited to whitelisted institutional partners, managed by Stacks Labs," which published its own announcement of the service [1][3].
The rewards come from Stacks, a separate blockchain tied to bitcoin that has its own token, STX. BitGo said the service uses the network's PoX-5 protocol, "which ties activity on Stacks to bitcoin spent on the Bitcoin network" [1].
A client's position moves through four steps, BitGo said. The client locks bitcoin in a "timelocked vault," a lock written into bitcoin itself that keeps the coins from moving until a set date, and the bitcoin "remains in BitGo Bank & Trust custody for the full staking period." The client also locks a required amount of STX for a set period, a second asset whose price moves on its own. The paired position is registered on Stacks and becomes eligible for rewards, and BitGo claims the rewards on the client's behalf [1].
The money behind the rewards is bitcoin that other people spend. "Rewards are paid in BTC, funded by the BTC that Stacks miners spend to produce blocks," BitGo said [2]. Miners on Stacks pay in bitcoin for the right to add blocks, and that bitcoin flows to those who lock coins in each bond, Stacks Labs said [3].
BitGo stressed what doesn't happen. The service "was designed so that bitcoin is not lent, bridged, or wrapped," it said, meaning the coins aren't loaned out or converted into a stand-in token on another network [1].
| Piece | What the companies say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| STX pairing | STX worth 5% of the staked BTC's value | Stacks Labs [3] |
| Bond length | about six months | Stacks Labs [3] |
| Rewards paid in | BTC | BitGo [1][2] |
| Custody of staked BTC | BitGo Bank & Trust, timelocked on Bitcoin | BitGo [1] |
Source: BitGo blog and X post, Nov. 3, 2026 [1][2]; Stacks Labs blog, Nov. 3, 2026 [3]. Wording as the companies gave it.
Stacks Labs said "each Bitcoin Staking position pairs BTC with STX at 5% of the staked BTC's value," and that positions "are bonded for about six months and pay rewards in BTC." A bond here is a fixed period during which the coins stay locked. It said principal is returned at maturity and that the protocol "does not include slashing," the penalty some networks impose by confiscating part of a staker's coins [3]. It also said each bonding period has a target rate set before it opens, though "the realized rate can vary" [3]. Neither company published that rate, and neither said how it compares with earlier bonds.
BitGo pitched one feature at fund issuers. Clients "can direct rewards to an address that differs from the staking address," which it said can help exchange-traded products keep principal and rewards apart [1].
Muneeb Ali, who describes himself on X as the founder of Stacks, put a number on it. Clients "can earn 3% yield in BTC," he posted on X at 11:46 a.m. EST [4]. That is his figure, not BitGo's. BitGo's own page says: "Rewards are variable, depend on protocol activity and conditions, and are not guaranteed" [1].
The relationship isn't new. Stacks Labs said BitGo first integrated Stacks in 2021 and added custody and minting of sBTC, a bitcoin-backed token on Stacks, in August 2026 [3].
The pitch is that the bitcoin never leaves custody, but it does stop being freely available. BitGo said staked bitcoin "generally cannot be accessed until the bonding period ends," that the STX leg "remains subject to market price fluctuation and may lose value," and that participation carries "smart contract, protocol and network risk, which could result in delay or loss" [1]. It said Stacks "is not operated or controlled by BitGo," that it "does not guarantee the performance of the Stacks protocol, ... or the value of any digital asset," and that digital assets "are not deposits and are not FDIC insured" [1]. Neither company disclosed which clients have signed up or how much bitcoin they have committed.
The selling point here is plumbing, not yield. BitGo's blog spends more words on custody, timelocks and separating rewards from principal than on returns, and it names exchange-traded product issuers directly [1]. That's the language of a firm trying to fit a crypto-native reward into the paperwork institutions already use. The catch sits in the second leg. A client who wants bitcoin-paid rewards also has to hold STX, so the bitcoin stays put while the client takes on exposure to another token.
Holding the Corner.
Not financial advice.