At the Consensus conference in New York City, ShapeShift founder and CEO Erik Voorhees officially launched Prism, a “trustless asset portfolio platform.” The Swiss blockchain technology company says that investors of all types can now build a portfolio using this decentralized digital asset holding application.
ShapeShift Launches Prism – a Decentralized Digital Asset Portfolio Without Third-Party Risk
The Prism platform enables users to secure a basket of cryptocurrencies without exposure to third-party risk. Built on Ethereum-based smart contracts, investors can construct a crypto-portfolio with a broad range of digital assets, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, and Ripple.
ShapeShift notes that Bitcoin and altcoins as alternative investments have grown exponentially over the past two years, with the combined market cap of cryptocurrencies expanding over 200% in the last year to exceed $40 billion. Prism furthers this momentum by offering the first live platform in a trustless environment dedicated to users' crypto-asset portfolios.
“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 stated during the announcement.
Prism’s digital asset portfolios, built entirely on non-custodial smart contracts, demonstrate a new standard in financial security.
A Diversified Crypto-Portfolio That Competes with Other Prism Investors
The company says it has used its proven model from the ShapeShift design to build Prism. The new platform is a “diversified crypto-portfolio distilled down into a simple interface: buy, rebalance, and settle, all of which the user can execute with nothing more than their Ethereum wallet,” explains the Swiss startup.
Once a Prism portfolio is created, it is positioned on a leaderboard competing with other Prism users based on investment performance. Furthermore, users can learn from top traders and copy their portfolio choices by visiting the public Prism performance leaderboards. This gamified approach not only encourages participation but also fosters a community-driven investment ecosystem where strategies are transparent and replicable.
Prism Aims to Open a Whole New World of Borderless Finance
After creating a personal Prism portfolio, users choose from a wide range of digital assets and determine how to split their investments. The investor then provides an Ethereum address that enables them to fund and track their Prism assets. This address gives Prism users proprietary control over their funds and the ability to track the investment vehicle via the Ethereum network. ShapeShift says the following ether wallets have been tested and vetted for use on the Prism platform: Exodus.io, Jaxx.io, and Myetherwallet.
If an investor wants to close out their Prism account, they are asked to send a zero ETH transaction to a provided Ethereum address that will signal the smart contract to close the portfolio. If the Prism’s components went up 20%, the investor will receive 20% more Ether back than they put in, minus displayed fees. This seamless settlement mechanism ensures transparency and trustlessness, as all operations are governed by immutable code rather than a central authority.
“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,” concluded Voorhees. The platform represents a significant leap forward in decentralized finance (DeFi), leveraging Ethereum's programmability to create self-executing portfolios that operate without intermediaries. As the cryptocurrency ecosystem matures, tools like Prism could redefine how individual investors and institutions gain exposure to digital assets while maintaining full custody of their funds.
Moreover, the underlying smart contract architecture eliminates common risks associated with centralized exchanges, such as hacks, insolvency, or mismanagement. By enabling users to hold their own assets while participating in a diversified portfolio, Prism aligns with the core ethos of blockchain technology: trust through code, not through institutions. The launch at Consensus 2017 underscores the growing mainstream interest in sophisticated DeFi products that offer both security and flexibility.