Episode notes
Mike Belshe, co-founder and CEO of BitGo, walks through how institutional Bitcoin custody actually works in 2026: qualified custody, self-custody co-signing, and why BitGo still centers a 2-of-3 model after pioneering P2SH multisig in 2013.
BitGo now operates as a US-regulated qualified custodian and public company, while still offering the same wallet stack individuals can run in self-custody mode. The conversation covers what “institutional security” means in practice — HSM-backed co-signing, open-source recovery paths, multi-jurisdictional key storage (including how BitGo moved WBTC when US regulation looked hostile), and why on-chain multisig still beats vendor-locked MPC for cold ops.
They also dig into the political and operational risks around large Bitcoin holdings: KYC and PII as honeypots, France tying names to amounts, the war on cash reaching Bitcoin, and whether an EO 6102-style confiscation risk still belongs in the threat model. On the institutional side, Belshe pushes back on multi-custodian setups that add failure modes, explains insurance limits versus the size of the Bitcoin market, and why splitting wallets matters after events like Bybit.
Timestamps
00:00 — Intro: Mike Belshe of BitGo
00:59 — Don't Lose Self-Custody's Power
05:41 — Retail Deserves Institutional Security
07:16 — Humans Are Terrible at OpSec
09:56 — 2-of-3 Protects Theft and Loss
14:35 — Retail Pays 160 Basis Points
19:22 — Why People Drift Toward Banks
20:35 — Self-Custody Is Never Trustless
23:39 — Why BitGo Sticks to 2-of-3
30:31 — A Public CEO Holds Zero at Home
31:27 — KYC Leaks Are Government Honeypots
39:28 — France Doxed Bitcoin Holdings
41:30 — War on Cash Reaches Bitcoin
43:45 — Multi-Jurisdictional Key Storage
45:29 — Executive Order 6102 Could Return
47:43 — Quantum-Resistant Wallets Today
49:27 — Multisig Beats MPC
53:33 — Splitting Custodians Adds Failures
58:29 — 2-of-2 MPC Can't Recover Loss
01:00:57 — $5–7B Insurance vs $1.6T Bitcoin
01:03:35 — Bybit Lost 10x by Not Splitting
01:05:21 — Multi-Institution vs Qualified Custody
Links:
https://x.com/bitgo
Stephan Livera links:
Follow me on X: @stephanlivera
