Blockchain software firm BitGo announced on Tuesday it has acquired Harbor, a digital securities platform, and its broker-dealer and transfer agent subsidiaries. BitGo reported that the acquisition extends its capabilities to address a wider class of digital assets for institutional investors and provides a foundation for a full-stack digital assets solution.
Harbor was notably formed in 2018 with the mission to become a one-stop-shop platform for security token issuers and received investments from leading venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Craft Ventures, Fifth Wall, Valor Equity Partners, and VY Capital. Harbor received a transfer agent license from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in November 2019 and claims it became the first blockchain company to be granted both a broker-dealer license and a transfer agent license. While sharing details about the acquisition, Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo, stated:
“Our vision has always been bigger than wallets and custody, and acquiring Harbor furthers BitGo’s vision of building a new digital infrastructure for financial services. We believe participants will ultimately need trusted, full-stack solutions for digital currencies and now BitGo is well positioned to address institutional requirements as the market develops. BitGo has been an important partner since Harbor’s inception. We’ve worked closely together to integrate BitGo Business Wallets and BitGo Custody into Harbor’s services.”
Josh Stein, CEO of Harbor, went on to add:
“Harbor provides BitGo with a complementary technology stack for the lifecycle of digital securities, as well as important service capabilities through our digital assets broker-dealer and transfer agent subsidiaries.”
The acquisition comes just weeks after BitGo announced it is expanding its global presence with new custodial entities in Switzerland and Germany. BitGo reported at the time that BitGo’s Swiss entity BitGo GmbH is a member of the Financial Services Standards Association (VQF), supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).