Here's what BitGo's CEO expects of Goldman Sachs' and Fidelity's crypto custody plans

Crypto custodian shop BitGo has dominated the space for the last several years; a big fish in a small pond.

With $70 million in venture financing with heavyweights like Galaxy and Goldman backing it, there seems to be little that can stop its momentum. Except, of course, the natural rules of economics; namely, the rise of competitors looking to steal a slice of the pie.

[related id="1"]But BitGo CEO Mike Belshe says he welcomes new players like Goldman and co., and has an idea of what they may have up their sleeves.

"[Goldman] would be tremendous for the industry," Belshe says. "They'd bring five or ten billion into custody in just a few months, just by being Goldman. And then that could cause the price [of Bitcoin] to spike, and it could spike on its own by a factor of ten...I'd love to have them in the space."

Goldman has long been exploring its own custody solutions, hoping to safely store their clients' digital assets. The Block has learned that Goldman and BitGo held conversations last year about the Wall Street bank white labeling the firm's services - to the confusion of some of Belshe's colleagues.

"People ask me this question all the time. They say, 'Mike, why would you provide technology to Goldman to do custody if all they're going to do is turn around and compete against you? Wouldn't you rather just go win this thing?"

Goldman isn't close to making a decision about how it will roll out custody or the firms with which it will partner, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Still, it's all fair game for Belshe. BitGo is "a veteran, in crypto terms," and, he believes, it'll take time for even the Goldmans of the world to catch up technologically.

"They wouldn't fully get in right away." That is to say, offer custody for more than a handful of assets.

The same goes for Fidelity, whose much-awaited crypto business recently soft-launched with a few clients. Currently, the firm is just offering bitcoin custody.

"They're going to tip-toe. They've got their smart people, and they're going to do a risk-based approach," Belshe says, noting their significantly bigger market cap.

"I would bet money that they just put the brakes on and say we're going to see how this goes for three to six months. They don't want to take a hundred-billion-dollar risk on brand new tech."