On the 25th of October 2022, Habor, which BitGo recently acquired, announced the launch of its private beta project.
Harbor private beta is officially out!
Temporarily available to OG discord members and those who fill out the form on https://t.co/IuDZUaWd3o
We will be expanding the private beta access to more users very soon! 🤝
Follow us and join our Discord to stay notified! 🔔 pic.twitter.com/IOaE5Gy2BP
— Harbor (@harbor) October 25, 2022
According to the announcement, the Private beta, as the name implies, is currently for a select few users. These are the OG discord members and those that fill out the form on their Habor site.
But the Private beta isn’t built as an exclusive club. The announcement made it clear that the current structure is temporary, as Harbor would expand the Private beta access to give more users access to the project.
BitGo, a financial asset service institution that provides its clients with security, Custody, and liquidity solutions, acquired Habor on the 18th of February, 2020. The acquisition also included the transfer agent and broker-dealer of Harbor, upgrading BitGo to a “full stack” status. The first in the digital security space.
BitGo is a licensed Custodian under the South Dakota Division of Banking. The transfer agent subsidiary is regulated by the SEC, and FIRA regulates the broker-dealer. So the users of both BitGo and Harbor are unbordered by the current SEC crackdown on crypto companies.
Harbor was formed in 2018 as a solution for issuers of security tokens. And by November 2019, it had secured both its transfer agent license and broker-dealer license. Harbor is working with BitGo to build the proper infrastructure for traditional institutional investors.
According to the CEO of BitGo, Mike Belshe, spoke on BitGo’s vision to be the most significant custody institution, and the acquisition of Harbor is set to further that vision. He also noted that the crypto space is building the necessary infrastructure to match the traditional financial system. Yet that would require putting together a lot of pieces very quickly.
And the acquisition of Harbor is one of such pieces falling into place. There is a general fear surrounding the volatility of the crypto space and its lack of adequate security. With the expansion, BitGo is now positioned to ease the entry of newbies into the crypto space while providing the needed security.