It seems that online payments giant PayPal has bigger plans in the Cryptoverse. Within weeks, the company could reach a deal to buy US-based major crypto custodian BitGo, Bloomberg reported, citing undisclosed people familiar with the matter.
However, talks could still fall apart and PayPal could opt to buy other targets as it is exploring acquisitions of cryptocurrency companies, it added. Both mentioned companies declined to comment.
BitGo raised USD 58.5m in 2018 at a USD 170m valuation, according to PitchBook.
The company, backed by such heavy hitters as Goldman Sachs, Digital Currency Group, and Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital among others, has been focused exclusively on serving institutional clients since 2013.
BitGo is also providing its custody solution to the Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) project. WBTC is an ERC20 token backed 1:1 with bitcoin (BTC) that brings BTC to the Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem. Total value locked in WBTC now stands at more than USD 1.4bn, according to Defi Pulse data.
This year, BITGO itself, acquired and integrated into their business digital security issuance platform Harbor, thus gaining a regulated broker-dealer in the US, as well as institutional digital asset platform Lumina that does portfolio accounting and tax supporting.
In July, Nick Carmi, CEO of BitGo Prime, the institutional trading service by BitGo, told Cryptonews.com that, at the time, there were no mergers or acquisitions on the horizon, but they are approached by several companies each week with such proposals.
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