BitGo Expands NEAR Protocol Support with NEP-141 Token Integration

BitGo has announced the integration of NEP-141 token support on the NEAR Protocol, beginning with custody and wallet services for USDC and USDT stablecoins.

The expansion allows institutional clients including exchanges, fintech companies, and asset managers to securely store and manage NEAR-native stablecoins using BitGo’s regulated custody infrastructure (Bitgo is a qualified custodian under the NYDFS). The service provides cold wallet support and asset operations through both API and user interface access.

Building on Long-Standing Partnership

BitGo’s relationship with NEAR Protocol dates back to July 2022, when the company became the first qualified custodian to support NEAR’s native token. The NEAR Foundation selected BitGo as a custody provider for its treasury at that time. Since the initial integration, BitGo has expanded its NEAR ecosystem support to include cold storage, staking services, and wallet infrastructure integration. The addition of NEP-141 token support represents the latest phase in this ongoing collaboration.

Go Network Integration Creates New Trading Opportunities

A key feature of the NEP-141 integration is its connection to BitGo’s Go Network, the company’s institutional settlement layer. This en  ables market participants to use NEAR-native USDC and USDT as collateral for trading on connected exchanges.

The integration is designed to improve capital efficiency for institutions building on NEAR by combining stablecoin custody with collateral mobility and streamlining workflows for exchanges, market makers, and asset managers seeking to deploy NEP-141 assets in active trading environments.

Security Considerations and Risk Factors

While BitGo maintains a clean security record and has never experienced a security breach since opening in 2013, the integration does introduce some exposure to NEAR Protocol’s security challenges.

NEAR Protocol paid out $1.8 million to ethical hackers in 2023 for discovering critical vulnerabilities, including one that could artificially increase validator rewards by 300,000-fold. According to the security researchers, an account staking $100,000 USD in NEAR could have potentially have earned $7.8 million per day if the vulnerability had been exploited.

In 2023 security firm Halborn has also noted concerns about NEAR’s centralization, pointing out that the network only has approximately 200 validators, with the top 17 controlling 51% of total stake. “With such centralization of the stake among validators, NEAR is not currently as firmly positioned to resist [censorship] attacks as it perhaps should be,” the analysis stated.

Comprehensive Service Offering

Despite these historical security challenges, the new NEP-141 support provides BitGo clients with several capabilities:

• Full custody services for NEAR-native USDC and USDT across regulated custody and self-custody wallets
• Seamless operations through BitGo’s APIs and user interface
• Infrastructure support for building and scaling on NEAR using stablecoins
• Access to Go Network for instant, off-chain settlement of NEAR-native stablecoins
• Unified wallet and settlement infrastructure for streamlined treasury operations

BitGo indicated that support for additional NEP-141 assets is planned for future phases, though no specific timeline was provided.