Cosmos adds BitGo to its banking network of 17 partners

Cosmos launches 17 partner networks to accelerate digital asset services from pilot to production environments

On September 9, Cosmos announced the launch of a 17-member partner network. The network brings together infrastructure providers such as BitGo, Galaxy Digital, and OpenZeppelin to help financial institutions officially move tokenized deposits and digital asset services from the pilot phase to the production environment.

Building a comprehensive enterprise-level digital asset ecosystem

Cosmos's partner network covers multiple key areas such as custody, compliance, security and blockchain infrastructure. Initial members include 17 professional service providers including Anseta, Balance, BCW Group, BitGo, Blockchain.com, Blockdaemon, Coinbax, DFNS, Galaxy Digital, Hyperpathic, InfStones, OpenZeppelin, Peersyst Technology, Silence Laboratories, Ubyx, Utila and Zeeve.

These companies cover different aspects of an organization's deployment of digital assets, and provide services including asset custody, identity verification, transaction monitoring, wallet infrastructure, blockchain node operations, pledge services, settlement system integration, and smart Contract security, etc. Through this collaboration model, Cosmos will provide its Tokenization Suite and digital ledger technology, while partners will provide professional services that banks typically need to purchase from multiple suppliers. This arrangement is designed to reduce the coordination effort required when connecting token issuance, custody, compliance and operating systems, thereby reducing overall complexity.

Focus on core application scenarios: tokenized deposits and round-the-clock settlement

"Financial institutions have recognized the huge potential of tokenization, but transitioning from pilot projects to high-quality, real-time customer experiences still face challenges," said Maghnus Mareneck, co-founder and CEO of Cosmos. He claims the network can simplify the complex process of finding service providers individually. However, Cosmos has not disclosed the specific list of banks participating in the project, nor has it confirmed that there are actual production deployment cases under the new plan.

The network mainly targets the following application scenarios:

• Tokenized deposits: This is the main banking use case. Unlike many stablecoins, tokenized deposits are usually still liabilities of the issuing bank, rather than claims against non-bank issuers. This allows banks to retain deposits while providing transfer programmability features similar to stablecoins.
• All-weather settlement: supports 24/7 payment settlement and financial management.
• Programmable escrow: Used in scenarios such as trade finance and agency commerce.

Although these are considered potential uses, they currently fall within the proposed capabilities and are not yet supported by confirmation services from named financial institutions. To realize tokenized deposits, redemption rules, settlement finality, customer identity verification and interoperability standards between institutions still need to be clarified.

Key Partner Role Analysis

BitGo: Join the network as a custodian and settlement provider to the institution. BitGo provides regulated custody, wallet, trading, financing, pledge and stablecoin infrastructure. Its role helps banks separate asset custody from the issuance and transfer techniques of tokenized deposits. BitGo emphasizes that tokenization can only really work if banks can move from pilot to production without having to piece together the entire supplier stack themselves.

Galaxy Digital: Contribute trading, financing, asset management, pledge and tokenization services.

Blockchain.com: provides institutional over-the-counter (OTC), market-making and custody functions.

Balance: focuses on custody, settlement, escrow agent (Escrow) and collateral management.

Wallet and security experts:

• DFNS: Provides wallet infrastructure for institutions that issue and manage assets on the chain.
• Utila: Provides multi-party computing wallet and policy control functions.
• Silence Laboratories: focuses on local hosting and quantum secure wallet technologies.

Compliance and Security: Addressing Institutional Risk

Institution-level tokenization introduces additional risks beyond asset issuance, so the role of compliance and security partners is critical:

• Coinbax: provides transaction-level screening, payment reversibility and programmable custody controls.
• Ubyx：It is committed to connecting issuers with banks and financial technology companies so that tokenized currencies can be converted into fiat equivalents.
• Hyperpathic: provides real-time monitoring, fraud prevention and automated incident response.
• OpenZeppelin: Provides smart contract design, auditing and ongoing security services.
• Blockdaemon & InfStones: Provides nodes, application program interfaces (APIs), pledges and other operational infrastructure.

Production systems must strictly control private keys, screen transactions, limit unauthorized transfers of funds, and maintain services during network failures. In addition, when multiple providers participate in the same transaction, responsibility needs to be clarified. Given the recent Cosmos EVM vulnerability that resulted in the theft of approximately US$5.72 million in assets (although not directly related to this new network, but reflects the industry background), monitoring, auditing, and incident response are particularly important for institutional deployment.

Future Outlook: From Framework to Substantive Deployment

Cosmos claims that its technology supports more than 150 blockchains and secures more than US$70 billion in assets. However, the ecosystem indicators provided by these data for companies do not show how much institutional tokenized deposit activity is currently actually operating in their systems. As of now, Cosmos has not announced the fees, technical certification requirements or revenue sharing arrangements for joining the partner network, nor has it clearly stated which partners have integrated with the tokenization suite.

Cosmos said members will be given the opportunity to refer to financial institutions that use public and private Cosmos networks and can participate in future tokenized deposit projects, but this does not guarantee contracts or commercial deployment. The next measurable development will be: announcements by well-known bank customers, the operation of real-time tokenized deposits, the completion of custody integration, and the growth of transaction volume.

Pending these deployment announcements, the Cosmos Partner Network should be viewed as a coordinated institutional services framework. Its commercial value will depend on whether banks use this comprehensive supplier stack to launch customer-facing tokenized products, rather than remaining in a limited pilot project.