iPower Adds Crypto to Treasury With BitGo, Heralding Corporate Shift

NEW YORK, NY – January 09, 2026 – In a move signaling the growing acceptance of digital assets within traditional corporate finance, Nasdaq-listed online retailer iPower Inc. (Nasdaq: IPW) has added Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to its corporate treasury. The company utilized the regulated infrastructure of digital asset firm BitGo Holdings Inc. for the execution and custody of the transactions, highlighting a significant trend of public companies seeking secure, institutional-grade pathways into the cryptocurrency market.

iPower completed its initial purchases of approximately $2.2 million, acquiring 15.1 Bitcoin and 301.1 Ethereum, through an account at BitGo Bank & Trust, National Association. The trades were conducted using BitGo Prime’s over-the-counter (OTC) desk, a service designed to provide institutional clients with deep liquidity and discreet execution. The assets are now held in BitGo's regulated cold storage custody solution.

The partnership underscores a pivotal moment for corporate treasury management, where digital assets are transitioning from speculative novelties to strategic reserve assets. For companies like iPower, which operate outside the crypto-native sphere, the decision to diversify their balance sheet requires a framework that prioritizes security and regulatory compliance—a role that specialized firms like BitGo are increasingly filling.

“Corporate treasury participation in digital assets requires strong security, governance, and operational rigor,” said Mike Belshe, CEO and Co-founder of BitGo, in the official announcement. “BitGo provides infrastructure that supports these requirements across custody and transaction execution.”

A Strategic Pivot Beyond Retail

iPower's foray into digital assets is not an isolated investment but a component of a broader, multi-faceted strategy announced in July 2025. The e-commerce provider is aiming to position itself at the intersection of digital finance and real-world commerce, backed by a $30 million convertible note financing facility secured specifically to fund these initiatives. The initial $2.2 million purchase was funded from a $4.4 million tranche of this facility, with the company stating that a significant portion of future proceeds will be allocated to further digital asset acquisitions, market conditions permitting.

Beyond simply holding Bitcoin and Ethereum, iPower’s long-term vision includes several key initiatives:

• Yield Generation: The company plans to deploy its digital assets into institutional-grade lending structures to generate a predictable yield while preserving principal.
• Consumer Crypto Products: iPower intends to leverage its e-commerce and fulfillment network to launch consumer-facing crypto products, such as cloud mining resale services and the distribution of hardware wallets.
• Blockchain Integration: The firm is developing a commercial Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for cross-border e-commerce and is actively evaluating stablecoin infrastructure to streamline international settlement processes, potentially reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

“As we evaluated our approach to digital asset treasury activity, we focused on governance, security and operational discipline. We believe BitGo’s infrastructure provides a framework aligned with our internal controls for purposes of supporting the execution and custody of these transactions,” stated Lawrence Tan, CEO of iPower.

The Institutional Gateway: Secure Custody and Regulation

The collaboration between iPower and BitGo exemplifies the critical role that regulated custodians play in unlocking institutional and corporate capital. For years, concerns over security, counterparty risk, and a complex regulatory environment have been significant barriers to entry for traditional firms. BitGo has addressed these concerns by establishing itself as a federally chartered national trust bank, operating under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

This national trust bank charter, granted in late 2025, allows BitGo Bank & Trust to offer qualified custody services for digital assets across the United States under a single, uniform federal regime. This preempts the need for a patchwork of state-level licenses and provides clients like iPower with a higher degree of regulatory certainty. The company’s platform is built on multi-signature security protocols and offers customizable policy controls, providing the operational workflows that corporate treasuries require to manage digital assets securely.

BitGo’s comprehensive service suite, which includes OTC trading, staking, and financing in addition to custody, creates an end-to-end ecosystem for institutions. This integrated model is becoming the industry standard, with competitors like Anchorage Digital, Coinbase Institutional, and Fidelity Digital Assets also offering a similar range of services to capture the growing institutional demand.

Corporate Treasuries Embrace the Digital Frontier

iPower’s move is part of a larger narrative of non-crypto companies diversifying their balance sheets. While MicroStrategy remains the most prominent example with its multi-billion-dollar Bitcoin holdings, the trend is expanding to a wider array of industries. Companies are increasingly exploring digital assets for several strategic reasons: as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement, as a source of uncorrelated returns for portfolio diversification, and as a technological tool to modernize financial operations.

The primary challenges for these corporations remain the inherent price volatility of assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, evolving accounting standards, and the ever-present risk of cyber threats. However, the maturation of the market has produced sophisticated risk management and security solutions. The availability of regulated custodians, deep liquidity from OTC desks, and insurance coverage—with BitGo offering up to $250 million—mitigates many of the operational risks that previously deterred corporate boards.

A Maturing Regulatory Landscape

The increasing corporate adoption of digital assets is occurring in parallel with significant progress in the U.S. regulatory environment. Recent actions by federal agencies are fostering a more predictable framework for institutions. The OCC's decision to grant national trust charters to several crypto-native firms was a landmark development, creating federally supervised entities for digital asset custody.

Simultaneously, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued updated guidance, such as Staff Accounting Bulletin 122, to clarify reporting and disclosure requirements for companies holding crypto assets. In Congress, several pieces of legislation, including the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT 21), are advancing with the goal of establishing clear rules for the digital asset market. This move toward regulatory clarity in the U.S., combined with comprehensive frameworks like the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in the European Union, is creating a more stable foundation for global institutional participation, paving the way for more companies to follow in iPower's footsteps.