A ShapeShift Into the World of Trustless Asset Portfolios

“ShapeShift” is a concept describing the ability to change form or identity to adapt to changing conditions. It is also the name of a Swiss-based company that created the world’s first trustless asset portfolio for acquiring digital assets without counterparty risk.

Launched today at the blockchain summit Consensus 2017 held in New York, the cutting-edge platform known as Prism seeks to usher in a new age for investors with a thirst for cryptocurrencies.

The Prism announcement comes on the heels of record-setting growth within the cryptocurrency market, with bitcoin among others advancing to new all-time price highs. Momentum has been further buoyed by a blockchain industry that is already experiencing an incredible diversity of projects, from tokenized venture capital funds to blockchain-based casinos to global distributed computing systems. Prism is the first live platform that enables investors to create their own funds focused on investments in crypto-assets.

This new development is the brainchild of Erik Voorhees, long-time champion of and entrepreneur in the Bitcoin space. ShapeShift, the company he founded in 2013, raised $10.4m during its Series A from leading German VCs in March 2017 to jumpstart this new venture.

Built entirely on Ethereum-based smart contracts, Prism will enable investors to curate portfolios, known as “Prisms,” of digital assets known as “Prisms,” such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dash, Monero and Golem. Within minutes, an investor can set up a crypto portfolio — absent of third-party intermediaries — and gain exposure to a wide swath of blockchain tokens. Moreover, they can secure their investments without having to establish a unique wallet for each asset.

With Prism, users will create their portfolios by funding it with ether (the native token of the Ethereum blockchain network). The total amount of ether is divided among whichever assets they decide on, in percentages they elect to allocate to each asset. When the investor is ready to finalize their Prism portfolio, they will be prompted to send a zero-ETH transaction to a provided Ethereum address, signaling the smart contract to close the portfolio.

The beta period for Prism will likely extend for at least six months after the launch, with new features being added over time.

Prism’s approach and philosophy offers an ideal complement to ShapeShift and its established reputation for securing over a million secure transactions for customers since 2014. ShapeShift’s policy of not holding any customer assets or private personal information keeps users safe from identity or financial theft — a critical improvement in digital exchange technology.

ShapeShift is now leveraging their proven model of simplicity and security to cultivate Prism. With this latest development, the complex functionality of a diversified crypto portfolio is distilled down into a simple interface allowing users to buy, rebalance and settle their assets. All of this can be executed by a user with nothing more than their Ethereum wallet.

Prism enables investors to gain secure, transparent exposure to digital assets in a way that has never before been possible. The days of leaving funds at an exchange ‘because it’s easier’ are over. – Erik Voorhees, CEO and founder of ShapeShift and Prism

Voorhees goes on to assert that Prism’s digital asset portfolios, built entirely on non-custodial smart contracts, will demonstrate a new normal for financial security. “Prism takes us one step closer to a world of truly borderless finance. We suspect it will kickstart a vast horizon of financial experimentation upon smart contracts.”

Raine Revere, lead engineer for the Prism project, says that ShapeShift’s focus on simplicity and security was a perfect fit for the design of Prism. “Part of the joy of engineering is seeing how all the pieces will fit together and then systematically carrying out that vision in order to build a working product. That link between vision and functional product is what makes software engineering so special. The vision of Prism was clear from the beginning, allowing this creative process to proceed uninhibited.”

“Gone are the days of trusting a 3rd party with one’s wealth,” said Voorhees in a statement. “Prism’s digital asset portfolios, built entirely on non-custodial smart contracts, demonstrates a new standard in financial security.”