Eligible customers can obtain U.S. dollar loans from Kalshi Prime affiliate Kalshi Katalyst against digital assets held in qualified custody at BitGo Bank & Trust, the first custodian in the Kalshi Prime network

BitGo Holdings, Inc., the digital asset infrastructure company, and Kalshi Prime, announced the launch of HODL Margining, a Kalshi Prime network that enables eligible customers to fund fiat margin obligations with crypto holdings, without first selling any crypto assets. BitGo Bank & Trust, National Association, an OCC-regulated digital asset trust bank and subsidiary of BitGo, is the first custodian to join the new network.

The HODL Margining network enables eligible customers of Kalshi Prime, the CFTC-registered futures commission merchant (“FCM”), to borrow against digital assets held in qualified custody at BitGo Bank & Trust, or any other custodian participating in the network, to fund margin for perpetual futures and other eligible margin products traded on KalshiEX.

Kalshi Katalyst, a lending affiliate of Kalshi Prime, provides U.S. dollar loans to eligible customers secured by BTC, ETH or eligible stablecoins held at BitGo Bank & Trust or other custodians. Katalyst deposits the proceeds directly into the borrower’s Kalshi Prime account, where Kalshi Prime’s margin, segregation, and risk controls apply.

Under the legal structure, pledged assets remain in qualified custody at BitGo Bank & Trust, rather than being transferred to a third-party venue or converted to cash. Digital assets are held in segregated client accounts, separate from BitGo’s own corporate assets, and are safeguarded using BitGo’s cold-storage infrastructure. BitGo maintains insurance of up to $250 million on assets held in custody. By keeping collateral at a regulated custodian, customers can fund margin while retaining legal ownership of their pledged assets, subject to Kalshi Katalyst’s security interest.

Kalshi’s HODL Margining gives eligible customers greater flexibility in how they fund their trading activity. By enabling customers to fund margin without first selling their digital asset holdings, Kalshi Prime is making it easier to access regulated perpetual futures, including 24/7 trading, no contract rolls, capital efficiency and the ability to take short positions. This expands customer choice beyond some existing industry practices where customers must convert their digital assets into U.S. dollars, thus no longer holding the crypto.

“We’re building a next generation FCM at Kalshi Prime. That means listening to our customers and providing what they need, adapting our model to how they actually hold and manage assets,” said Jeff Bandman, CEO of Kalshi Prime. “We’ve always been crypto friendly, and HODL Margining is a great example of being customer focused: digitally native customers can fund their margin without having to sell their existing holdings. We see this as an exciting practical step in marrying the regulated CFTC framework with on-chain innovation.”

“We believe our clients want to put their digital assets to work, and they expect security to carry through everything they do,” said Mike Belshe, CEO and Co-founder of BitGo. “That’s how we build our infrastructure. With Kalshi Prime, eligible clients can borrow against their holdings to fund margin while keeping the pledge assets at BitGo Bank & Trust.”

KalshiEX launched perpetual futures trading on May 29, 2026, initially offering crypto contracts. Since then, Kalshi has introduced a broad range of perpetual futures never offered before as regulated products in the US, including 19 crypto pairs, and real world assets including Gold and the Kalshi 500 perpetual index. Kalshi Klear, its clearinghouse, applied to the CFTC in September 2026 to permit margin on select event contracts.

The launch extends BitGo’s infrastructure into an institutional margin workflow, connecting regulated custody and collateral management with the financing and trading services clients use.

Source: Kalshi