The BeInCrypto Institutional 100 includes a ‘Best Crypto Corporate Governance’ category. This recognizes companies that demonstrate strong governance practices for digital assets, based on factors like public accountability, banking regulations, board oversight, thorough audits, and how well they handle crises.
These companies fall under the Regulation & Governance section of our assessment. The 15 firms listed below are presented alphabetically, without any ranking. We will announce a smaller selection of finalists in May 2026, and the ultimate winner will be revealed at Proof of Talk in Paris on June 2nd and 3rd, 2026.
Key Facts
- Long list: 15 firms across public crypto companies, federal crypto banks, regulated custody firms, TradFi banks, and digital asset infrastructure providers
- Order: Listed alphabetically, not ranked
- Initial pool: More than 30 firms screened; 15 advanced to the long list
- Scoring: 20% quantitative data · 80% Expert Council
- Criteria assessed: Public-market discipline, banking charter strength, board independence, audit maturity, incident response, disclosure quality, leadership credibility
- Data sources: OCC, SEC EDGAR, NYDFS, FCA, FINMA, BaFin, MAS, MiCA-CASP registers, audited reports, company disclosures, PitchBook, Tracxn, and Crunchbase
| Firm | Governance Sub-Segment | HQ | Reach | Top Listing / Charter | Representative Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anchorage Digital | Federally chartered crypto bank | SF / NY / Sioux Falls / Singapore / Porto | $4.2B valuation
Backed by a16z, GIC, Goldman Sachs, KKR, Visa, Tether |
OCC national trust bank charter since Jan 2021
Longest-tenured federally chartered crypto bank |
Subject to ongoing OCC examination
Resolved 2022 OCC AML consent order after remediation |
| BitGo | Public and federally chartered custody | Sioux Falls / Palo Alto | $104B+ AUC
$2.08B valuation at IPO |
NYSE: BTGO since Jan 22, 2026
OCC final national trust bank charter |
NYSE IPO raised $212.8M in Jan 2026
First publicly traded federally chartered digital asset infrastructure company |
| Block | Long-tenured public fintech | San Francisco, USA | Cash App and Square ecosystem
57M Cash App monthly actives in Q4 2025 |
NYSE: XYZ, formerly SQ
Public since Nov 2015 |
Decade-plus public-company governance record
Spiral continues Bitcoin core development support |
| BNY | Global bank with crypto custody surface | New York, USA | $55.8T total AUC/A
Founded in 1784 as the oldest US bank |
NYSE: BK
OCC-regulated bank |
Co-custodian on Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust |
| Bullish | Public institutional exchange | George Town, Cayman Islands | Institutional spot and derivatives trading platform
Public-market exchange governance |
NYSE: BLSH
Listed via SPAC merger in Aug 2025 |
NYSE listing brought public-market governance to the venue
Led by Tom Farley, former NYSE President |
| Circle Internet Group | Public stablecoin issuer | Boston / NYC, USA | USDC $73B market cap
Monthly Deloitte reserve attestations |
NYSE: CRCL since Jun 2025
OCC conditional national trust bank charter |
First publicly traded stablecoin issuer
OCC conditional charter granted Dec 12, 2025 |
| Coinbase | Public crypto-native company | Wilmington / SF, USA | S&P 500 inclusion in 2024
Full SOX compliance; Deloitte auditor |
NASDAQ: COIN since Apr 2021
First US-listed crypto-native firm |
SEC enforcement action dismissed in Feb 2025
Board includes Marc Andreessen, Fred Wilson, Tobias Lütke, and Gokul Rajaram |
| Fidelity Digital Assets, NA | Asset-manager operated federal trust | Boston, USA | Backed by Fidelity’s $15T+ AUA platform
Custody for FBTC and FETH ETFs |
OCC conditional national trust bank charter
Approved Dec 12, 2025 |
FDAS LLC converting from NY state trust to federal trust bank
Inherits Fidelity’s institutional governance framework |
| Galaxy Digital | Public multi-product crypto investment firm | New York / Delaware | Trading, asset management, investment banking, and mining
US public-market governance framework |
NASDAQ: GLXY since May 16, 2025
Re-domiciled from Toronto to Delaware |
Completed re-domiciliation and Nasdaq uplisting in May 2025
Moved into full US-listed SOX governance regime |
| Kraken (Payward) | Multi-charter crypto bank and IPO-track firm | San Francisco, USA | Krak app reached 450K+ downloads across 130 countries
Profitable with positive EBITDA per Co-CEO disclosure |
Wyoming SPDI charter
OCC trust application filed May 8, 2026 |
Filed OCC national trust charter application
Deutsche Börse made $200M secondary share purchase in Apr 2026 |
| Robinhood Markets | Public retail broker with crypto stack | Menlo Park, USA | 26M+ funded customers in Q1 2026
Expanded crypto licence base via Bitstamp |
NASDAQ: HOOD since Jul 2021
MiCAR-CASP operational |
Closed Bitstamp acquisition in Jun 2025
WonderFi acquisition expanded Canadian footprint in Q1 2026 |
| Securitize | SEC-regulated tokenization infrastructure | Miami, USA | $4B+ AUM in tokenized assets
Partners include BlackRock, Apollo, Hamilton Lane, KKR, VanEck, BNY |
SPAC merger to NASDAQ at $1.25B valuation
SEC-registered broker-dealer, ATS, transfer agent, ERA |
SPAC merger announced via Cantor Equity Partners
NYSE selected Securitize for tokenized securities platform |
| Standard Chartered | TradFi global bank with digital asset stack | London, UK | $900B assets
170+ year emerging-markets bank |
LSE: STAN and HKEX: 2888
Multi-jurisdiction CIB governance |
Naveen Mallela joined as payments head in May 2026
Zodia Custody remains majority-owned via SC Ventures |
| Strategy (MicroStrategy) | Public Bitcoin treasury corporation | Tysons Corner, Virginia | World’s largest corporate BTC holder
Public company since 1998 |
NASDAQ: MSTR
Rebranded from MicroStrategy in Feb 2025 |
Maintains long-running public-company disclosure regime
Bitcoin treasury model governed through Nasdaq filings |
| Sygnum | Swiss-licensed crypto bank | Zurich, Switzerland | 2,000+ institutional clients across 70+ countries
$5B+ AUM; $1B+ post-money valuation |
FINMA banking licence since 2019
MAS CMS, Liechtenstein bank licence, ADGM |
Reached unicorn status in Jan 2025
Sygnum Connect and Sygnum Protect are live products |
About This List
As a crypto investor, I’m always looking for projects with solid foundations, and BeInCrypto’s recently released Institutional 100 list caught my eye. It highlights companies that are building trustworthy governance structures – basically, showing they’re serious about long-term stability in the crypto space. It’s a long list of names, presented alphabetically, so it’s not a ranking just yet, but a good starting point for identifying potentially reliable players for the future, especially as institutions get more involved.
This category includes US-based companies built around cryptocurrency, officially licensed crypto banks, traditional financial companies significantly involved with digital assets, and private crypto infrastructure companies that face strict regulation. Companies with serious, unresolved issues in how they’re run were excluded from consideration, even if they were large.
Methodology
This category’s score in the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 is determined using two main factors: 20% comes from measurable data, and 80% is based on assessments from our Expert Council.
Evaluation is based on seven key areas: how well the company follows public market rules and provides clear financial reporting, the strength of its banking license or regulatory oversight, the makeup and independence of its board of directors, the sophistication of its audit and compliance processes, how it handles security breaches or regulatory issues, the clarity of its information sharing, and the trustworthiness of its leaders.
Before evaluating companies, we first screen for significant, unaddressed issues with their governance. Any firm with these problems is automatically excluded from initial consideration.
As a crypto investor, I’ve done a deep dive into verifying the legitimacy of this project. I checked everything – national bank charters from the OCC, filings with the SEC, licenses from financial regulators like NYDFS, FCA, FINMA, BaFin, and MAS, and even the new MiCA regulations. I also went through audited reports, official announcements from the firm, and used resources like PitchBook, Tracxn, and Crunchbase to get a complete picture. Basically, I’ve left no stone unturned to make sure everything checks out.
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2026-05-17 19:42