Headquarters Palo Alto | Founded 2013 | |
 | ||
Key people CEO & Co-founder, Mike Belshe
CTO & Co-founder, Ben Davenport Services Bitcoin / Blockchain Security Platform API's | ||
Bitgo introduces the first ever comprehensive insurance coverage for bitcoin
BitGo is a Blockchain security company. It is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It was founded in 2013 by Mike Belshe and Ben Davenport.
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Eb53 arianna simpson security and usability with bitgo s multi signature hd wallets
Services
The company offers a multisignature bitcoin wallet service. In January 2015 BitGo announced the general availability of their Platform API, allowing developers to fully leverage the enterprise grade security features of BitGo's multisig HD wallet in their own applications. The following month the company bought an insurance policy from XL Catlin against theft from its wallets. The February 25, 2015 BitBeat column from The Wall Street Journal described the policy as "a first for the digital currency industry that could pave the way for companies to provide greater assurances to customers that their bitcoins are safe."
In June 2015 the company launched the Verified by BitGo program, a "proof of reserve" service for bitcoin companies. In October 2015 the company published an open protocol for sharing keys between bitcoin service companies called the "Key Recovery Service".
Funding
In June 2014 the company received US$12 million in venture capital funding led by Redpoint Ventures.
Bitfinex Hack
On August 2, 2016, more than $60,000,000 worth of bitcoin was stolen from Bitfinex, one of the world's largest digital currency exchanges. Announced in 2015, Bitfinex and BitGo created a system whereby multi-signature wallets, those where keys are divided among a number of owners to manage risk, would be provided to each customer. The companies sought to find an alternative to the standard process used by exchanges at the time that saw customer funds co-mingled in larger offline wallets and connected or "hot" wallets used to meet liquidity demands. Rather, each Bitfinex user has their own set of keys created on the platform, using a 2-of-3 key arrangement whereby Bitfinex held two of the keys (including one offline) and BitGo used the third to co-sign transactions.
In order to withdraw such a large amount of funds, BitGo would likely have had to sign off on those transactions.