BitGo announced BitGo Labs on October 21, 2026, naming Gokubu as a live consumer application with a card accepted wherever Visa is accepted. The product advertises up to 6% rewards. Its public cardholder agreement describes a secured credit account with collateral held through BitGo and gives the issuer liquidation rights.
The launch announcement introduces Labs as a research and innovation unit building applications on BitGo’s infrastructure. Gokubu is one of its first projects. The release describes an AI financial assistant; public pricing and an agreement updated October 20, 2026 spell out the product’s costs and account terms.
Rewards come in tokens, with a holding period
Gokubu’s product page lists a free Basic plan and a Premium subscription costing $9.99 a month. Its comparison table advertises 6% rewards on the first $2k of monthly spending for Premium. The card annual fee is listed as $0, separate from the subscription charge. The same table describes the crypto wallet as custodial.
The rewards page gives the base benefit as 2% on eligible purchases and the enhanced Premium benefit as 6%. Rewards are paid in $GKU, not deposited directly as dollars. Conversion into an account balance is subject to program terms, and the page lists a holding period of up to 30 days before tokens become eligible for conversion.
The page’s redemption description says users can convert tokens to USD after a 30-day holding period and top up the card balance. It also advertises using tokens to pay for queries through Ask Gokubu and Gokubu Pulse. Gokubu says these services analyze spending, negotiate bills and optimize savings. The number of queries available is linked to the amount of $GKU held. These are the company’s descriptions of the features, not independently tested capabilities.
The rewards page also carries a disclaimer saying that $GKU has not been issued and is not being offered for sale, leaving its earning and redemption descriptions unresolved. The disclaimer reserves Gokubu’s right to modify or discontinue the program. BitGo says the application is live, but that statement leaves the status of the advertised reward token unclear.
The card account is secured by collateral
The cardholder agreement says linked wallets or fiat currency credited to the account can provide collateral for card charges. Collateral must sit on a supported blockchain or otherwise be credited to the account. The agreement’s supported-network definition names Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism and Arbitrum. The issuer can update that list.
Customers retain ownership of the assets, according to the agreement. BitGo Trust Company or an affiliated qualified custodian holds them in the customer’s individual BitGo Go Account under separate custody terms. Opening the secured account grants a security interest in the collateral. Under this agreement, Gokubu itself is not the custodian.
The agreement permits a liquidation event upon settlement of transactions, under instructions given to the custodian. A missed payment is not required. Other grounds for liquidation include failure to pay the full amount within 21 calendar days of the statement due date, or a decline in collateral value below existing charges that the customer fails to cover by adding collateral or reducing the debt.
Gokubu determines the collateral’s market value at its discretion, using a centralized stablecoin issuer’s net redemption value, an exchange or price aggregator, or a price oracle. Transaction costs and gas fees associated with liquidation come out of the collateral. Those costs are not credited toward the account balance. If the proceeds from liquidation fall short of outstanding charges, the customer still owes the difference.
The issuer need not give prior notice before liquidating collateral to satisfy payment obligations. Customers can withdraw available, unencumbered collateral through the application without advance notice, subject to bank-transfer and blockchain processing times. They remain responsible for outstanding card payments after a withdrawal. The agreement also warns that digital assets, including stablecoins, are not insured by the FDIC, SIPC or another government agency.
Issuer responsibilities, fees and access
The homepage identifies Rain, a Visa Principal Member, as the card issuer. The legal agreement defines the issuer as Third National, the registered trade name of Nimbus LLC, a licensed lender and Visa-authorized card issuer. The documents use these respective names for the issuer extending credit, not BitGo.
Gokubu says it is not the creditor, does not own the card account and makes no credit decisions. Under the agreement, approval, billing, error resolution, credit reporting and collection belong to the issuer’s account relationship with the customer. The app’s financial features and the credit account have separate contractual responsibilities.
The opening disclosures list a purchase APR of 0.00% and say purchases incur no interest. Payment is due 21 days after the close of each billing cycle. The disclosures also list an international transaction fee of 1% of the transaction in U.S. dollars and a late-payment fee of 2% of the current outstanding card balance. Those charges apply separately from the homepage’s zero annual card fee.
Account verification can require a legal name, address, birth date, employment and income information, and a Social Security number or other government identification number. If the issuer cannot verify the information it requests, it can restrict or close the account. Gokubu separately says it uses Plaid to link U.S. bank accounts.
The agreement limits account use to personal, family or household purposes. Cash advances, ATM access and account access checks are not presently offered. It describes the launch card as virtual, with no PIN entry required for transactions. The homepage still lists the physical card as coming soon, while the rewards page retains the statement that $GKU has not been issued.
