BitGo launches BitGo Labs with an initial focus on AI and crypto use cases

BitGo has created a new research and innovation unit, BitGo Labs, to design, launch and test what it described as the next breakthrough applications in digital assets. The company said the group will focus on use cases that can only be enabled by crypto, including interest and yield structures that traditional systems cannot offer, while using AI to shorten development timelines from years to months. At launch, the unit is concentrating on the intersection of AI and crypto. BitGo said the AI economy still needs crypto-native financial infrastructure for micropayments, instant settlement and asset security. Among the first projects introduced by BitGo Labs is Gokubu, a consumer-facing application that uses AI-driven card optimization to manage spending. The product is already live and assigns users personalized AI financial assistants aimed at improving rewards and transaction value. BitGo also said the lab plans to release research papers, protocol prototypes and reference implementations, and to work with developers, academics and institutions across the crypto and AI communities. The announcement comes after BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said in an earlier interview that AI agents are likely to use stablecoins as their native currency, and that human control over AI may last longer than some expect. His remarks responded to Maelstrom CIO Arthur Hayes, who had argued that stablecoins and other digital currencies cannot serve as native money for AI agents because they cannot be directly converted into compute.