ShapeShift to Shut Down Its Prism Product

Earlier this week, ShapeShift.io CEO Erik Voorhees revealed that its investment service “Prism” is “shutting down”.

Prism was launched roughly a year and a half ago in beta version as a platform dedicated to crypto investors. These were able to develop Ethereum-powered portfolios with a mixed number of cryptocurrencies without being forced to hold their funds directly on the exchanges.

“Prism is Shutting Down”- this was the announcement made by ShapeShift on Tuesday.

“If you want to get 20 different coins today, you have two ways of doing it. What most people do they make an account at the exchange, they make an account at the exchange, and they just leave them there. It causes a huge counterparty risk,” Voorhees said.

The crypto project was in close-beta since its launch and should have been going live later September. Still, the company published a notice indicating that its product is “shutting down soon”.

Here’s what the notice states:

“With the work we’ve done over these past 18 months, it’s become clear to us that there is actually a different (and likely superior) product to be built with this underlying technology. It requires more than a pivot: a reimagining of the product itself. At the same time, we are deep in work on ShapeShift’s core technology, CoinCap, KeepKey, and the inundation of activity involved in building a 120+ person organization in a graceful, cohesive, and productive manner.”

“These reasons combined have led us to the conclusion that we should sunset the current Prism product, both in order to focus on our core platform, and to clear the pallet for a potential reimagining of what this technology can do later on. Therefore, we are shutting down the Prism.exchange product over the coming weeks.”

Users were advised to withdraw the funds and close their accounts on the Prism platform until 11 October – the date when the exchange will close its doors and automatically cancel all accounts.

ShapeShift integrated a ‘mandatory membership model’

September does not look like a promising month for ShapeShift. It started with a tumultuous announcement on the integration of a “mandatory membership model” to be in line with the legislation in force.

ShapeShift.io CEO Erik Voorhees expressed his regret about the recently added policies:

“We would prefer if the collection of personal information was not a mandatory element. We still firmly believe that individuals, regardless of their race, religion, or nationality, deserve the right to financial privacy, just as they deserve the right to privacy in their thoughts, in their relationships, and in their communications. Such privacy is a foundational element of a civil and just society, and should be defended by all good people. We remain committed to that cause and it is best served if we are smart about our approach.”

From Voorhees’ comments on social media, we can deduce that the platform has been pressed by financial regulators.

Author: Adriana Midrigan

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