Terra FAQ

What is Prime Trust’s role in cryptocurrency exchanges?

Prime Trust is a cryptocurrency custodian and infrastructure platform provider that enables customers to store and trade cryptocurrency. 

What is the role of a custodian?

As a custodian in digital finance, Prime Trust is charged with securing and safeguarding cryptocurrency assets by providing a safe and secure platform to store them, providing the technology for our customers to manage their liquidity, and protecting custodied assets from theft.

Who are Prime Trust’s customers?

Prime Trust customers are onramps, wallets, cryptocurrency exchanges, Alternative Trading Systems and other businesses in retail financial services.  Those businesses, in turn,  have their own customers who are end users and individuals.

Does being a custodian mean Prime Trust facilitates trade requests?

Yes, but to do so both Prime Trust and the customer must have sufficient funds in their respective accounts. In addition, Prime Trust must accept the trade. If any of these conditions are not met, Prime Trust cannot move a trade request into the settlement stage. 

Is Prime Trust obligated to process or settle all trade requests?

No. Like all custodians – in both traditional and digital finance -- Prime Trust is never contractually liable to process or settle trade requests. Prime Trust is only able to settle trade requests if all of the conditions described above are satisfied.  

Is a statement of price a guarantee that Prime Trust will accept and fulfill a trade?

No. A statement of price is not a guarantee that Prime Trust will accept or fulfill a trade. It merely states the terms of the trade if accepted.  

What was Prime Trust’s role in the UST collapse?

Prime Trust had no role in the UST collapse. UST’s stability was compromised as a result of large sell volumes and a loss in confidence in the Terra Luna ecosystem. This, in turn, led to the unrecoverable depegging of UST, negatively impacting the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. As a result, Prime Trust’s UST liquidity provider stopped servicing Prime Trust, which terminated our ability to service UST trade requests. 

A detailed overview of the event can be found here.

After UST collapsed, why were some UST/USD trades settled but not others?

Only those UST/USD trades that maintained sufficient balances in both the customer’s and Prime Trust’s accounts were successfully settled. Once Prime Trust’s UST liquidity provider stopped servicing Prime Trust, there was no longer a sufficient balance of UST/USD in Prime Trust’s account to settle trades.

Will existing Luna/UST holders get their assets back?

Prime Trust has received an airdrop of the new Luna tokens that Terraform Labs announced as part of a planned distribution to existing Luna/UST holders. We have taken a careful inventory of what was received and worked out the proper allocation to remaining UST holders. Account holders that will receive an allocation have been contacted to coordinate the distribution.

What is my recourse at this point?

As noted, Terraform Labs has airdropped new Luna tokens. We have taken a careful inventory of what was received and worked out the proper allocation to remaining UST holders. Account holders that will receive an allocation have been contacted to coordinate the distribution.

When will there be more information?

Distributions are in process and account holders identified to receive an allocation have been contacted. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your cryptocurrency provider.