BitGo's revenue halves to $2.85 billion as crypto trading cools, but a $71.5 million paper gain on its bitcoin nearly doubles its profit

BitGo, the crypto custody and infrastructure company listed on the NYSE, took in about $2.85 billion in revenue in the third quarter, down 50.9% from $5.81 billion a year earlier, according to results it filed with the SEC on Monday. Almost all of that is offset by about $2.81 billion in direct costs, so the company also reports revenue after direct costs, which fell 32.1% to $37.3 million. BitGo attributed the drop to soft crypto trading and a larger share of lower-margin stablecoin transactions, The Block reports.

Net income nearly doubled to $44.1 million from $22.7 million. The increase came mainly from a $71.5 million unrealized gain on the bitcoin BitGo holds as a treasury asset, a gain on paper rather than cash. Excluding that gain, the company had an operating loss of $19.2 million, against operating income of $3.9 million a year earlier, and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $4.3 million.

BitGo held 2,399 bitcoin worth $200.4 million at the end of September and repurchased $24.7 million of its shares under a $50 million plan. Its normalized assets on platform, which strip out price moves, rose about 32% from a year earlier. Chief executive Mike Belshe said the company sees "significant opportunities" to widen access to U.S. stocks through digital asset and stablecoin networks.