On January 23, 2026, YZi Labs announced its participation in the BitGo IPO strategic allocation, shifting its narrative from focusing on first-line trading and asset volatility to betting on regulated institutional-grade infrastructure. On one side is BitGo, which YZi refers to as "a key digital asset infrastructure regulated by the U.S.," managing approximately $82 billion in assets and serving over 5,100 institutional clients. On the other side is the rollercoaster market, including ELSA, which saw a 173% surge followed by a 38% retracement in a short period. The tension between these two paths is further amplified: while short-term funds frequently change hands amid dramatic fluctuations, institutional funds are beginning to make longer-term layouts on compliant infrastructure. The core question to be discussed in the article emerges—when market turbulence becomes the norm, to what extent can infrastructure layouts like BitGo hedge against or even leverage such volatility, becoming a true "long-term anchor"?
Formation of the Regulatory Moat
● Integrated Infrastructure Role: BitGo's current business landscape covers custody, staking, and stablecoin issuance-related services, forming an integrated infrastructure package aimed at institutions, from asset security custody and yield management to on-chain settlement support. For large institutions, this means that the entire process from asset entry, storage, appreciation to circulation has unified standards and a single responsible party, significantly reducing operational complexity and compliance friction. BitGo's positioning is no longer just a single "tool," but part of the underlying financial pipeline.
● Compliance and Security Selling Points: YZi Labs directly defines BitGo as "a key digital asset infrastructure regulated by the U.S." in its statement, which itself is a distillation of brand and risk premium. The licensing, auditing, and compliance requirements under the U.S. regulatory framework equate to a "minimum acceptable safety threshold" for many institutions. In a crypto environment rife with frequent explosions and hacking incidents, being labeled as "critical infrastructure" in a regulatory context means a very low tolerance for security incidents and compliance errors, providing institutional-level endorsement for cooperation with traditional financial institutions.
● The Weight of $82 Billion in Managed Assets and 5,100+ Institutions: According to public information, BitGo currently manages approximately $82 billion in assets and serves over 5,100 institutional clients, providing hard metrics for its weight in the institutional circle. This not only represents the volume of custody assets but also reflects that its counterparties are often large funds with stringent risk control requirements. For investors like YZi, the bet is not just on a single company but on the entire ecosystem's stickiness and network effects formed around these $82 billion in assets and over 5,100 institutions.
● The Rising Interest of Institutions: Against the backdrop of significant volatility in multiple targets, including ELSA, institutional interest in regulated infrastructure has significantly increased. The dramatic market conditions have made traditional institutions more wary of "naked exposure" on-chain, while also forcing them to seek service providers that can meet regulatory reporting, asset isolation, and risk control requirements. BitGo has risen in this macro sentiment, becoming a compliance bridge for institutions that want to enter but are hesitant to dive in fully naked.
From Rollercoaster to Anchor
● ELSA's Rollercoaster Market: Within the same time frame, ELSA has been recorded by multiple market platforms as a typical "rollercoaster" asset—its price soared approximately 173% in a short period, followed by a rapid retracement of about 38%. Such amplitude far exceeds the daily volatility range of most assets in traditional financial markets, directly pulling in high-flying traders, short-term traders, and algorithmic strategies into intense profit and loss reshuffling. The price surge and drop often occur within extremely short time windows, making it difficult for most retail investors to switch between rational decision-making and emotional impulses in a timely manner.
● Emotional Shock and the "Rollercoaster Volatility" Label: Some market analysts have described ELSA's trend as a typical "rollercoaster volatility," which reflects the process of retail and short-term funds being pulled in multiple directions emotionally in a short time. When prices soar, fear of missing out and greed quickly amplify; when retracement occurs, panic selling and counter-trend buying compound, creating a chain reaction. For individual investors without a sound risk control mechanism, this volatility is not just a change in paper profits and losses but a process of rapidly consuming psychological capital.
● A Sample of Whales Taking Profits: In this context, data indicates that one address closed 1,737.71 ETH, realizing a profit of about $120,000. This behavior reflects a typical short-term speculative mindset: quickly locking in profits and reducing exposure amid dramatic fluctuations. For large funds, such arbitrage operations are not isolated events but part of a systematic trading strategy around volatility. The implication for ordinary investors is that on the other side of the table, there are often participants with more professional control over position management and profit-loss ratios.
● The Time Gap Between Short-Term Rollercoasters and Long-Term Infrastructure: When we place the aforementioned short-term behaviors alongside institutional long-term bets on infrastructure like BitGo on the same timeline, the comparison becomes intuitive: the former focuses on cashing in on one or two fluctuations, while the latter bets on the structural dividends of institutional entry and regulatory deepening over the coming years. ELSA-style volatility is the fireworks in the theater—bright but short-lived; whereas BitGo-style layouts resemble the construction of the theater itself, with a much slower revenue rhythm but the potential to extract stable "ticket revenue" from each performance.
YZi's Choice and Position
● From First-Line Trading Narrative to Strategic Allocation: YZi Labs' participation in the BitGo IPO strategic allocation marks a shift from merely following market hotspots and participating in highly volatile assets to seeking long-term chips within the infrastructure and regulatory framework. This path can be understood as transitioning from "directly competing with other players at the table" to "standing alongside the dealer and rule-makers," focusing more on supporting and sharing the development of underlying facilities rather than repeatedly battling in front-line price wars.
● Choosing Regulated Infrastructure Over a Single Token: In a market environment filled with high-multiple rise-and-fall stories, YZi's choice to layout on U.S. regulated infrastructure rather than continuing to heavily invest in a single token is essentially a re-evaluation of the risk-return structure. Platform-type infrastructure serves the entire asset pool and multiple client groups, rather than just betting on a single track or consensus narrative; under a relatively clear regulatory environment, it faces growth slowdown rather than zero-risk, contrasting sharply with the speculative asset forms of "either tenfold or zero."
● Long-Term Revenue Sources from Strategic Allocation of Platform-Type Assets: For platform-type assets like BitGo, the potential long-term revenue from strategic allocation comes more from business volume expansion and valuation reassessment after the regulatory environment matures. On one hand, as the scale of managed assets and the number of institutional clients increase, its revenue structure often has a certain stickiness and compounding nature; on the other hand, if regulation further acknowledges and strengthens its "critical infrastructure" status, the compliance premium and moat premium embedded in its valuation may also rise. The realization of such revenues typically requires several years or even longer, rather than relying solely on the first day of listing or short-term stock price surges.
● Maintaining Restraint on Return Expectations: It is worth emphasizing that the key data regarding BitGo IPO, including issue price, total fundraising, and post-listing performance, has not yet been publicly disclosed, and YZi has not announced its specific investment amount. In the absence of these core parameters, any extrapolation regarding return multiples or specific valuation ranges risks sliding into the realm of excessive speculation. For ordinary investors, a more realistic approach is to focus on the business model, regulatory position, and how it connects with the industry cycle, rather than hastily labeling this strategic allocation as "guaranteed profit" or "the next hot stock."
Institutional Slow Money vs. Fast Money
● Fast Money Pursuing High-Volatility Assets vs. Slow Money Layouts in Infrastructure: High-volatility assets represented by ELSA are a natural battleground for short-term funds and strategy funds competing for liquidity and yield; while infrastructure represented by BitGo is more like a "berth" for institutional slow money. The former seeks extremely high annualized returns in a short time, willing to bear significant drawdown and liquidation risks; the latter attempts to share the stable cash flow and valuation uplift brought by institutional entry, asset migration, and regulatory deepening through participation in custody, clearing, and compliance service providers' equity or long-term cooperation.
● Dramatic Volatility Reinforces Demand for Secure Custody and Compliance: Each market shock often reinforces institutions' demand for secure custody and compliance services. Asset surges and drops, opaque projects running away, or frequent security incidents lead compliant institutions to more firmly concentrate assets with service providers recognized by regulators, with relatively mature technical capabilities and risk control systems. For players like BitGo, although they do not directly participate in price games, every round of macro fluctuations and individual explosion events invisibly push up the premium for "safety" and "compliance."
● Whales Exiting and Infrastructure Continues to Benefit: When whales choose to exit after closing 1,737.71 ETH for a profit of about $120,000 on assets like ELSA, this profit often leaves the trading counterpart and retail investors' pockets, but custodians, clearing parties, market makers, and liquidity service providers continue to collect fees as usual. Whether it is massive profits or severe losses, as long as funds flow within the system, the entire infrastructure chain can achieve relatively stable revenue through fees, service charges, and interest spreads. This "not relying on direction, only on flow" business logic is difficult for fast money players to replicate in a single transaction.
● Emotional Tax and Toll Fees: From a more abstract perspective, retail investors often pay an "emotional tax" during dramatic volatility—chasing highs and lows, frequently changing positions, missing stop losses, ultimately reflected in the trading costs and psychological pressure of being repeatedly harvested by the market. In contrast, the infrastructure like BitGo collects more akin to a "toll fee": as long as funds enter and exit the system and institutions operate on-chain, they can extract a portion of revenue based on flow and scale. For institutional investors like YZi, the bet is precisely on this ability to continuously collect "toll fees" amid long-term volatility, rather than a single segment's emotional dividend.
The IPO Story is Still Being Written
● Key Information Still Awaiting Disclosure: Currently, regarding BitGo IPO, the market still lacks key public data, including issue price, fundraising scale, and first-day performance. For all market participants hoping to quantify the cost-effectiveness of this investment, these omissions mean that a complete cash flow discount model cannot be established, nor can a detailed valuation comparison be made based on traditional IPO pricing frameworks. At this stage, what can be confirmed more is the business volume, client structure, and regulatory identity, rather than specific secondary market trading ranges.
● Unable to Speculate on Pricing and Stock Price: Under the clear prohibition against fabricating issue price, number of shares, total fundraising, and first-day price fluctuations, any attempt to predict BitGo's future market value or short-term stock price performance using specific numbers falls into the realm of exceeding information boundaries. What can currently be done is to roughly extrapolate its relative position and potential voice in the future industry landscape based on its $82 billion in managed assets, 5,100+ institutional clients, and status as "a key digital asset infrastructure regulated by the U.S.," rather than providing a seemingly precise price range.
● Details Still Awaiting Verification: Regarding the BitGo IPO, details such as whether the management will participate in the bell-ringing ceremony and specific statements from individual executives or investors (including Ella Zhang) on social media are currently classified as "awaiting verification." While these contextual materials can enhance the narrative tension, they should not be included in serious analysis without authoritative confirmation. Maintaining restraint on details helps focus attention on more essential issues: BitGo's true position in the regulatory, technological, and institutional ecosystem.
● The IPO Launch as a Litmus Test for "Infrastructure Premium": When the BitGo IPO is finally launched and receives market pricing, that moment will become an important milestone for testing whether the "infrastructure premium" is widely accepted. If the capital market is willing to pay a significant premium in valuation for its compliance status, custody scale, and institutional network, it will further validate the directional sense of strategic allocations like YZi's; conversely, if the valuation is discounted or performance is lackluster, it will provide a counter-sample for the proposition of "whether infrastructure is worth an additional premium." Regardless of the outcome, this IPO will leave a clear coordinate in the narrative of crypto infrastructure.
When Volatility Becomes the Norm
The dramatic volatility represented by ELSA and the robust infrastructure represented by BitGo signify two almost entirely different risk-return curves: the former relies on high volatility and concentrated liquidity to create short-term profit opportunities, but the retracement is equally fierce; the latter seeks to accumulate relatively predictable cash flow and valuation growth over a longer time frame through custody, staking, and compliance services. YZi Labs' bet on BitGo's strategic allocation is essentially buying a ticket in advance for the next cycle of institutional entry and regulatory deepening, rather than seeking another high-multiple myth in the current volatile market.
Looking ahead, if institutional demand continues to expand and compliance standards become increasingly stringent, infrastructure like BitGo may amplify its profit leverage in each market shock: whether prices rise or fall, as long as assets are migrated, reorganized, and upgraded within the system, they can extract stable toll costs from it. For individual investors, the key is not to blindly mimic institutional paths but to learn to distinguish between short-term narratives and long-term narratives: do you want to ride the "rollercoaster," seeking one-time gains amid thrills and dizziness; or are you willing to follow the "tracks," looking for a position that better matches your risk tolerance along a smoother but longer route? In a crypto world where volatility is almost destined to become the norm, this choice of position often determines what kind of wealth curve and psychological curve you ultimately possess.
Join our community to discuss and become stronger together!
Official Telegram community: https://t.me/aicoincn
AiCoin Chinese Twitter: https://x.com/AiCoinzh
OKX Benefits Group: https://aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=l61eM4owQ
Binance Benefits Group: https://aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=ynr7d1P6Z
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
