On December 22, Prime Trust, a Fintech infrastructure and crypto custody firm, announced another breakout year for the company with the expansion of the team. Also, there was significant growth in new accounts opened via Prime Trust APS (over 2000% from the previous year) and strong revenue growth. Prime Trust's impressive year is attributed to the firm’s ability to scale its business into new markets, attract and partner with major investors, acquire vital certifications and hire talent with regulatory expertise.
In 2021, Prime Trust witnessed a surge of its digital assets under custody by 280% from a year ago. The company processed 300 million API calls, and settled up to $3.5 billion per month. The firm obtained new accounts as hundreds of industry-leading names chose the company in 2021, which resulted in a 2000% increase in new accounts, which were all opened via its API platform. Additionally, the company gained new customers, including FTX, a derivatives crypto exchange, Fold, a Bitcoin rewards debit card and shopping app, Kado, a crypto payment platform, Kash.io, a crypto investment and payments app, Securitize, a digital asset securities platform, and OnRamp Invest, a wealth management platform for RIAs.
Additionally, Prime Trust saw an increase of crypto apps with more than 45% growth in its customer base, and the company expects this trend to continue into 2022. Over the past year in crowdfunding, the company witnessed a 31% increase in individual investors and a 34% increase in dollars invested across 1000 new offerings powered by FundAmerica by Prime Trust. In just one year, the company’s team has more than doubled its headcount, with new talent joining the company remotely and in-person at its headquarters in Las Vegas. In July, the company earned its ISO/IEC 27001:2013 designation testifying that the company meets the industry's most stringent information security management standards.
Tom Pageler, the CEO of Prime Trust, talked about the development and said: "This has truly been an amazing year for Prime Trust as we've been able to accelerate our offerings and meet the growing needs of fintech innovators. Through the hiring of exceptional talent, strategic partnerships and the expansion of new systems within the payments and alternative assets markets, we've been able to build best-in-class financial infrastructure that not only helps our clients launch quickly but fuels a new economy."
After seeing a successful year in 2021, Prime Trust is looking ahead to 2022 and the continued growth of crypto assets. The company is expecting to see significant growth, significant launches of new products, the transformation of crypto aps into banks, and it will dive deeper into wealth tech complemented by game-changing offerings.
Crypto VC Funds Are Getting Bigger
The development by Prime Trust comes at a time when the firm raised funding to expand its business. In July, the company raised a $64 million Series A round to help the five-year-old firm to court opportunities across the fintech landscape, not just cryptocurrency. The company offers settlement payments, know-your-customer and liquidity APIs, which cover 'the full infrastructure stack' for fintech firms such as neo-banks and crypto exchanges.
Furthermore, several crypto firms are racing to source venture capital to scale up their businesses while the acceptance and interest in cryptocurrencies have increased among the general public. This is also true among several traditional venture companies that had a mild feeling for the industry in the past. Many big-name cohorts in the investment world, like Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global Management, Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners and others, are participating in funding rounds in a trend not seen before. A number of traditional venture capital firms are likely drawn into the crypto world by the legitimization of the currency in recent years. Large financial service firms like PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard have helped legitimize the sector, and even Meta Platform Inc (formerly Facebook) is planning its own digital wallet and cryptocurrency, now called Diem.
