BitGo CEO warns crypto one-stop shops pose major risks

BitGo CEO Mike Belshe has a message for the crypto industry: putting every service under one roof is a bad idea. Speaking at Korea Blockchain Week 2026 on October 2, he warned that vertically integrated digital asset firms could trigger a collapse resembling the 2008 failure of Lehman Brothers.

The timing is pointed. His warning comes weeks after the Clarity Act stalled in the US Senate, leaving the market without the structural guardrails many in the industry had been counting on.

The core of his argument is functional separation. In Belshe's view, exchanges, brokerages and custodians should be distinct businesses, not divisions of the same company.

Belshe pointed to a specific historical contrast. He asserted that exchanges have never held custody of assets in the traditional model.

To make the stakes concrete, he compared the risk to the New York Stock Exchange failing. If that happened in a world where the exchange also held everyone's assets, the entire market would go down with it.

He also warned that the consequences could exceed those of Lehman. The 2008 collapse was devastating, but Belshe suggested a crypto equivalent could have even broader implications for the entire market.