Matrixport

Market position

Described in 2022 press coverage as one of the largest cryptocurrency lenders in Asia and as a crypto financial services unicorn; it was noted as one of the few crypto lending platforms not severely affected by the 2022 lending crisis that hit peers such as Celsius and BlockFi, though it did take losses from Three Arrows Capital and FTX exposure [4][6]. The company positions itself as an institutionally oriented bridge between traditional finance and digital assets [1].

A single account combining crypto, US equities and tokenized real-world assets with a shared balance; proprietary Cactus Custody infrastructure with multi-continent multi-signature key distribution; a broad structured product suite (including Dual-Currency, which it says it pioneered in 2019) covering bull, bear and range-bound scenarios; and a multi-jurisdiction licensing footprint spanning 12 licences in 7 countries [0][3].

Technology

In-house custody solution Cactus Custody, with cold and hot storage keys generated and held in FIPS 140-2 Level 3 or higher HSMs, private key plaintext never exposed, and a multi-signature scheme distributed across three continents and multiple jurisdictions. Infrastructure is deployed in vault-grade data centers with hardware heterogeneity and ISO27001/S-SDLC compliance. Account security includes mandatory two-factor authentication (Ukey/SMS/Google Authenticator), full HTTPS, fine-grained permissioning and a withdrawal address whitelist; the firm runs IPDRR-based monitoring, regular penetration testing and a vulnerability reporting program (msrc@matrixport.com) with a public acknowledgments list. The trading stack is described as a high-performance, low-latency matching engine [0][2][3].

Go-to-market

Direct-to-consumer and institutional acquisition via its web platform and mobile app, with promotional incentives such as a 500 USDT welcome bonus and listing-related rewards, a VIP tier system for traders, dedicated wealth managers for qualified clients, and published governance materials such as the BIT Trust Whitepaper 2026 [0].

High-net-worth individuals in crypto, institutional clients and retail investors; the platform also markets a VIP wealth management service with dedicated wealth managers and bespoke strategies for qualified clients, and an institutional quantitative strategy portal [0][7].

Geography

Singapore-based startup per 2021 reporting [7]; the company states a global network with licences and registrations in seven countries: Singapore (Major Payment Institution – Digital Payment Token Service), Hong Kong (TCSP, Money Lender Licence, DPMS Category A), Switzerland (Manager of Collective Assets; SRO member), United Kingdom (Appointed Representative), United States (Money Services Business), Bhutan (Financial Services Licence, two), and the British Virgin Islands (Registered VASP; SIBA Investment Business License). Cold storage infrastructure is distributed across three continents [0][1][3].

History

The company was established in February 2019, spun out of Bitmain Technologies by co-founder Jihan Wu after the mining-rig maker experienced a cash crunch; Wu became chairman of Matrixport with former Bitmain colleague Ge Yuesheng (John Ge) as CEO, the two holding a majority stake [6][7]. It reached unicorn status in August 2021 with a $100 million Series C at a $1 billion pre-money valuation [4][6][7]. In 2022 it was hit by the collapses of Three Arrows Capital and FTX, and in November 2022 was reported to be raising $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, with $50 million committed [4][6]. The company has since rebranded to BIT / BIT Group while retaining the matrixport.com domain [1].

Risks & controversies

In 2022 the firm was affected by the collapse of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital: it had extended a 120%-collateralized loan and liquidated the position after a missed margin call, ultimately recovering about 80% of the loan. It also had FTX exposure through fixed-income offerings, with 79 clients incurring losses across three products (BTC Fixed Income Products and Victoria BTC Fund Products); the firm stated products are strictly segregated from one another. Its November 2022 fundraising at a $1.5 billion valuation was unfinalized, with only half the round committed, and it had earlier targeted a $1 billion valuation [4][6]. Platform figures published by the company are labelled indicative and subject to official disclosures [1].