Prime Trust’s payments unit files for bankruptcy

Banq, the payments subsidiary of the crypto custodian Prime Trust, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.

The firm reported assets of approximately ~$17.7 million against total liabilities of about ~$5.45 million.

According to the site, the company offers software solutions for “digital payments, banking and mobile crypto services”.

Banq’s filing came a few days after Prime Trust’s parent structure signed a preliminary agreement with BitGo to purchase of the latter’s 100% stake in the custodian.

Prime Trust faced financial difficulties as a result of the bankruptcy Celsius Network. In January, the company laid off a third of its staff.

The custodian’s difficulties also affected the issuer of stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD). On June 10, the project team reported a temporary halt to minting of the coin via Prime Trust until further notice.

“Minting and redemption services for TUSD remain in effect and will continue to operate as usual. We want to assure you that our partnerships with other banking institutions remain unchanged. This allows seamless transactions,” FalseUSD said.

TUSD minting and redemption services remain unaffected and will continue to operate as usual. We want to assure you that our partnerships with other banking institutions remain intact, allowing for seamless transactions. https://t.co/N3RwvLGPon

— TrueUSD (@tusdio) June 10, 2023

On June 13, the South Korean crypto-asset management platform Haru Invest suspended withdrawals and deposits, citing issues with unnamed service partners. According to media reports, this concerns Banq or Prime Trust.

In June 2022, amid a bear market, Prime Trust closed a Series B financing round for $107 million. In 2021, the company raised $64 million.