According to Woofun AI, on October 22, 2026, BitGo (BTGO.US) and Kalshi Prime jointly released the HODL Margining Network, which aims to solve the liquidity difficulties faced by institutional investors when meeting additional margin requirements in US dollars. The system allows users to obtain loans using BTC, ETH, or qualifying stablecoins as collateral, thereby avoiding being forced to liquidate their crypto asset portfolios and redefining the margin management logic in derivatives transactions.
Judging from the structural design, the solution deeply integrates Kalshi Prime's commercial transaction services with the infrastructure of BitGo Bank & Trust, N.A., a national trust bank supervised by the US Monetary Authority.
According to data compiled by Woofun AI, BitGo Bank & Trust became the first qualified custodian to join the network, and its core function is to ensure the safe segregation of collateral assets. Under this mechanism, loan funds come from Kalshi Katalyst, the credit business division of Kalshi Prime. Once the US dollar funds are disbursed, they will be directly injected into the user's Kalshi Prime account to trade perpetual contracts and derivatives on the KalshiEx platform.
The point is that collateral custody, loan issuance, and transaction operations are strictly separated: assets are always stored at BitGo Bank & Trust, and are neither transferred to the Kalshi trading platform nor through any external intermediaries. These assets are placed in separate accounts that meet bankruptcy quarantine standards, completely cut off from BitGo's day-to-day operating assets, and stored in an institutional-grade cold storage system that provides insurance coverage of up to $250 million. Ownership of the assets remains with the depositor throughout the life of the loan, but the assets are subject to a security interest granted to Kalshi Katalyst until the debt is fully repaid.
This structure effectively responds to the pain point of customers either selling crypto assets or introducing external fiat funds to meet margin requirements under the traditional brokerage model, significantly simplifying the margin management process and protecting the customer's strategic long-term positions.
Regulatory compliance and risk disclosure are another key dimension in the implementation of this product. Kalshi Prime is registered as a futures broker with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA) to ensure compliance on the trading side;
However, Kalshi Katalyst, which provides credit support, and the credit agreements it issues are not regulated by the CFTC or NFA, which means that the borrowing process follows different compliance standards. The company clearly disclosed that the use of credit leverage will amplify the risk of loss. If there is an adverse change in the price of the relevant assets, the collateral may be liquidated. Kalshi Prime CEO Jeff Bandman stated that the core goal of the project was to make the traditional futures broker model better fit the needs of institutional clients accustomed to holding digital assets. Mike Belshe, CEO and co-founder of BitGo, emphasized that for institutional investors, improving portfolio returns without sacrificing security is essential, and that institutional-grade escrow services actually form a safe channel to directly introduce credit liquidity into regulated trading venues.
The launch of this feature further expands KalshiEx's platform ecosystem. The platform began providing perpetual contract trading services on May 29, 2026. As of the end of October 2026, 19 cryptocurrency trading pairs and various real-world asset-related perpetual indices were available for trading on the platform. With the completion of the technical audit and the signing of multi-party bilateral agreements, the HODL Margining Network is expected to attract more qualified custodians to join. This is an important evolution of cryptographic native institutional infrastructure in the field of liquidity optimization following traditional financial asset collateral lending, marking the institutionalized recognition of the collateral utility of crypto assets in derivatives transactions.