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§ Private Profile · Las Vegas, NV, USA
Prime Trust is a technology company.
Prime Trust provides comprehensive financial infrastructure through its API platform, enabling fintech companies and digital asset innovators to build and scale their services. The company offers a suite of core financial capabilities, including custody solutions for digital assets, integrated payment rails, liquidity services, and robust compliance tools. This infrastructure is designed to facilitate the secure and efficient merging of digital assets with traditional financial systems, supporting a broad range of emerging financial products and services.
Scott Purcell founded Prime Trust in 2016, identifying a critical need for accessible and compliant financial services in the nascent digital asset and fintech industries. His insight centered on developing a technology-driven trust company that could simplify the complex regulatory and operational challenges faced by innovators. By offering foundational banking and compliance services via an API, Purcell aimed to accelerate product development and market entry for companies operating at the intersection of finance and technology.
The company's platform serves a diverse clientele of fintech and digital asset firms, empowering them to focus on their core product offerings without significant backend infrastructure investment. Prime Trust's long-term vision was to act as a foundational layer, fostering innovation by providing trusted, transparent, and swift access to financial services that uphold stringent regulatory standards. It sought to be the essential partner for businesses navigating the evolving digital economy.
Prime Trust has raised $174.0M across 2 funding rounds.
Prime Trust has raised $174.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Prime Trust has raised $174.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $110.0M Series B in June 2022.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 1, 2022 | $110M Series B | — | 2048 Ventures, DAY ONE Ventures, Eigenspace, Golden Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, M13, Multicoin Capital, Ribbit Capital, Staircase Ventures, Trajectory Ventures, Tobias Lutke, TOM Williams, Commerce Ventures, Decasonic, FIS, Gaingels, GateCap Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Mercato Partners, Seven Peaks Ventures, University Growth Fund, William Blair & Company | Announced |
| Jul 1, 2021 | $64M Series A | Zane Busteed | Lightship Capital, Noemis Ventures, Sunset Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Samsung Next, TOM Gonser | Announced |
Prime Trust was a Nevada-chartered trust company providing all-in-one financial infrastructure for fintech and crypto innovators, offering an API platform with services like custody, payment rails, liquidity, settlement, indemnity, compliance, and issuance.[1][2][3] It served cryptocurrency exchanges, broker-dealers, investment advisors, and others handling digital assets, solving challenges in custodying non-traditional assets like blockchain tokens and private securities where traditional custodians hesitated.[1][3] The company raised $171.3 million total, including a $107 million Series B, but collapsed amid insolvency, filing for bankruptcy after a 2023 cease-and-desist from Nevada regulators revealed massive fraud and asset shortfalls exceeding $80 million.[1][4]
Founded in 2016 by Scott Purcell, Prime Trust emerged as a blockchain-focused firm headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, positioning itself as a technology-driven trust company to bridge traditional finance with digital assets.[2][3] It quickly gained traction by offering escrow for Reg A, D, S, CF securities offerings, KYC/AML compliance, and custody for self-directed IRAs holding crypto and tokenized assets—filling gaps left by unwilling legacy custodians.[3] Early growth included serving high-profile clients like Binance US, Swan Bitcoin, and BitGo, culminating in a major funding round just a year before its downfall.[1][4]
Prime Trust rode the early 2010s-2020s crypto boom, capitalizing on demand for compliant infrastructure amid blockchain's rise and traditional finance's reluctance to handle digital assets.[3] Its timing aligned with Reg A/CF crowdfunding surges and crypto exchange growth, influencing the ecosystem by enabling tokenized securities and reducing settlement risks for ATS platforms.[3] However, its 2023 shutdown—triggered by insolvency and fraud—exposed vulnerabilities in crypto custody, commingling assets across blockchains and locking billions in client funds during bankruptcy, eroding trust in third-party custodians and accelerating self-custody trends.[4]
Prime Trust's saga ended in a Delaware bankruptcy ruling vesting all assets—including segregated digital holdings—to the estate, prioritizing creditor distribution over direct client returns and highlighting custody perils.[4] With operations ceased, its legacy warns of over-reliance on centralized providers; future trends like decentralized custody and stricter regs (post-FTX/Prime fallout) will sideline similar models. What began as innovative fintech infrastructure devolved into a cautionary fraud tale, underscoring the high stakes in crypto's maturing landscape.[1][4]
Prime Trust has raised $174.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Prime Trust's investors include 2048 Ventures, Day One Ventures, Eigenspace, Golden Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, M13, Multicoin Capital, Ribbit Capital, Staircase Ventures, Trajectory Ventures, Tobias Lutke, Tom Williams.