AdvisorPeak has added cryptocurrency and other digital assets to its trading software for advisors as part of a collaboration with Prime Trust, a firm that describes itself as a "technology-driven trust company."
Almost 1,000 advisors leveraging AdvisorPeak can now custody, trade and rebalance Bitcoin and other digital assets on behalf of their clients through the new capability, the companies said in a joint announcement.
"The wealth management industry is horribly underexposed to #bitcoin," Kevin Lehtiniitty, chief strategy officer at Prime Trust, tweeted on Wednesday. "Part of that is certainly due to a lack of tools aimed towards that market and part of it is people still burying their heads in the sand. Hopefully the work we're doing with @AdvisorPeak helps fix this."
As a maker of all-in-one, application programming interface- (API)-based financial infrastructure tools, Prime Trust is providing AdvisorPeak clients with services tied to custody, payment processing, Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 compliance, asset liquidity and transaction settlement, the companies said.
Prime Trust's proprietary technology allows AdvisorPeak's advisors to hold various different assets from fiat currencies (government-issued currency not backed by commodities), to Bitcoin and other digital assets, to real estate and public and private securities, they said.
"The demand for digital assets is widespread and growing," according to Damon Deru, AdvisorPeak CEO. "Unfortunately for many advisors, their legacy systems are inadequate at handling the nuances of digital currencies — especially fractional shares," he said in a statement.
