BeInCrypto Publishes 2026 Crypto Governance Long List

BeInCrypto Names 15 Firms to 2026 Crypto Corporate Governance Long List – Public Listings, Banking Charters and Audit Standards in Focus

Key Takeaways

• BeInCrypto has selected 15 firms for the 2026 Crypto Corporate Governance long list under its Institutional 100 awards.
• Companies were assessed using 20 percent quantitative data and 80 percent Expert Council scoring.
• Evaluation criteria included public market discipline, charter strength, board independence, audit maturity, incident response and disclosure quality.
• Data was verified through regulatory filings and registers including OCC, SEC, NYDFS, FCA, FINMA, BaFin, MAS and MiCA CASP records.
• A shortlist will be announced in May 2026, with the winner revealed at Proof of Talk in Paris on June 2 to 3, 2026.

Institutional 100 Governance Category and Selection Process

BeInCrypto has published the long list for its 2026 Crypto Corporate Governance category as part of the Institutional 100 awards. The category covers firms whose governance structures are considered to set standards for digital assets across public markets, banking supervision and regulated financial services.

More than 30 firms were screened in the initial pool. Fifteen advanced to the long list. Companies are presented alphabetically and are not ranked at this stage. A shortlist will follow in May 2026, and the final winner will be announced at the Proof of Talk event in Paris in early June.

The evaluation falls under Track C of the Institutional 100 methodology. Twenty percent of the assessment is based on quantitative metrics, while 80 percent is derived from Expert Council scoring. Seven criteria were applied: public market discipline and SOX equivalent disclosure standards, strength of banking charter or regulatory framework, board independence, audit and compliance maturity, response to regulatory or security incidents, transparency and leadership credibility.

A negative signal scan acts as a precondition. Firms with material unresolved governance failures were excluded before scoring. Data verification relied on official sources such as OCC national trust bank charter records, SEC EDGAR filings, NYDFS trust and BitLicense registers, FCA, FINMA, BaFin, MAS and MiCA CASP records, as well as audited annual reports and private market databases including PitchBook, Tracxn and Crunchbase.

Publicly Listed Crypto Native and Infrastructure Firms

Several companies on the list operate under public market frameworks. Coinbase, listed on NASDAQ since April 2021, is included with reference to its S and P 500 inclusion, Deloitte audit relationship and SOX framework. An SEC enforcement action against the company was dismissed in February 2025, according to the published information.

BitGo completed a NYSE IPO in January 2026 under the ticker BTGO and holds a final national trust bank charter from the OCC. It is described as the first public federally chartered digital asset infrastructure firm.

Galaxy Digital, trading on NASDAQ under GLXY, re domiciled from Toronto to Delaware and completed a Nasdaq uplisting in May 2025, moving into a full US listed governance regime. Bullish, listed on NYSE under BLSH following a SPAC transaction in August 2025, received charter approval in December 2025 and operates as an institutional spot and derivatives venue.

Robinhood Markets, listed on NASDAQ under HOOD since July 2021, reports 26 million funded customers. The firm added global crypto licences through the acquisition of Bitstamp. Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy and listed on NASDAQ under MSTR since 1998, is identified as the largest corporate Bitcoin holder and governs its Bitcoin treasury model through public filings.

Block, trading on NYSE under XYZ and public since 2015, operates the Cash App and Square ecosystem with 57 million monthly active Cash App users. The listing notes that its NYSE status brought a public governance framework.

Federally Chartered and Regulated Crypto Banks

Anchorage Digital is identified as a federally chartered crypto bank supervised by the OCC, with a bank holding structure. The firm previously resolved an OCC AML order after remediation. It reports a 4.2 billion dollar valuation and backing from investors including a16z, GIC, Goldman Sachs, KKR, Visa and Tether.

Kraken, operating through Payward, holds a Wyoming SPDI charter and filed an OCC trust application in May 2026. The company reports positive EBITDA and operates the Krak app across 130 countries. It closed the acquisition of Bitstamp in June 2025 and acquired WonderFi to expand its presence in Canada.

Fidelity Digital Assets NA holds an OCC conditional national trust bank charter following conversion from a New York State trust. The business is backed by Fidelity’s platform with more than 15 trillion dollars in assets under administration and provides custody for FBTC and FETH. Deutsche Borse made a 200 million dollar strategic share purchase, and a confidential SEC IPO filing was submitted in November 2025.

Sygnum, based in Zurich, holds a FINMA banking licence and additional permissions in Singapore, Liechtenstein and ADGM. The firm reports more than 2,000 institutional clients, over 5 billion dollars in assets under management and achieved unicorn status in January 2025.

Global Banks and Regulated Infrastructure Providers

Traditional financial institutions with digital asset operations are also included. BNY, listed on NYSE under BK, reports 55.8 trillion dollars in assets under custody or administration. The bank is regulated by the OCC and acts as co custodian for the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust. It has offered live Bitcoin and Ethereum custody since 2022.

Standard Chartered, listed on the London Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Exchange, reports 900 billion dollars in assets and more than 170 years of banking history. The bank operates digital asset custody through SC Ventures and Zodia and is identified as a Hong Kong stablecoin licence candidate.

Circle Internet Group, issuer of USDC with a 73 billion dollar market capitalization, is listed on NYSE under CRCL. The company publishes monthly Deloitte reserve attestations and received an OCC conditional national trust charter in December 2025.

Securitize, a SEC registered broker dealer, alternative trading system, transfer agent and ER, reports more than 4 billion dollars in tokenized assets. Partners include BlackRock, Apollo and BNY. A SPAC merger was announced at a 1.25 billion dollar valuation, and NYSE selected Securitize for a tokenized securities platform.

Our Assessment

The 2026 long list highlights firms operating under public market disclosure regimes, federal or national banking charters and multi jurisdiction regulatory frameworks. The methodology places greater weight on expert evaluation than on quantitative metrics and excludes firms with unresolved governance concerns. For users assessing crypto infrastructure, custody providers, exchanges or stablecoin issuers, the list outlines which companies currently meet defined governance and regulatory criteria within the Institutional 100 framework.