Prime Trust, Swan Bitcoin Link Up on Crypto IRA Product

Fintech firm Prime Trust on Tuesday announced a platform for creating crypto-based individual retirement accounts (IRA) in an expansion of the API provider’s Web 3 footprint.

“For retirement funds, one of the most important things is to diversify,” Chief Product Officer Sara Xi said in a phone call with CoinDesk. She said Prime Trust’s Crypto IRA will make doing so easier for those who want crypto in their portfolio.

The program is only open to Prime Trust clients during a beta period that will test funding and investing retirement accounts with crypto.

IRA accounts offer retirement investors a tax-efficient alternative to long-term buying and holding. While they’re nothing new to the crypto industry, Xi said Prime Trust’s API solution is notable in covering the full account setup, funding and trading lifecycle.

Prime Trust Crypto IRA will support digital assets supported by the company's Liquidity API integration, although Xi expects that most users will be risk averse, and will opt to fund their accounts with market leaders like bitcoin (BTC) or ether (ETH).

One early client of the program, the sats-stacking Swan Bitcoin, is using Prime Trust to help employees contribute crypto to their IRAs. CEO Cory Klippsten told CoinDesk that the additional tax advantage of investing in crypto makes the retirement solution enticing for clients.

However, crypto IRA products are not without risk. Xi addressed that potential users recognize that crypto is volatile. And the February hack of IRA Financial and Gemini led to the theft of millions of dollars in crypto from retirement savers, highlighting the threat of security breaches in the world of digital asset management.

Xi explained Prime Trust's two-fold strategy of insuring against hacks and serving as custodian will protect users’ keys and keep their nest egg secure. A trust license holder in the state of Nevada, Prime Trust’s “job is to safekeep assets” she said.

The beta program will onboard clients such as crypto exchanges, lending platforms, and wealth management platforms ahead of the June 1 launch and public rollout in the fall. Xi said the beta will work to satisfy Swan and other clients while working out “operational kinks.”

CORRECTION (March 31, 19:00 UTC): Earlier versions of this story misstated how Prime Trust handles digital assets in relation to its IRA product, and which digital assets are in play.