Although it has been coming for quite some time now, Coinprism will officially close its doors on March 31. This news is not a big surprise, as a closure has seemed imminent for several months now. Although the service has been rather popular among fans of colored coins, the closure will still occur as planned.
THE END OF COINPRISM IS NEAR
It has been quite an interesting few years for Coinprism. The company was one of – if not THE – first to make access to colored coins pretty straightforward. For those unaware, colored coins are digital tokens issued on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, which work in somewhat similar fashion to Ethereum ERC20 tokens. Back in the day, there were not dozens of ICOs every week, though the occasional crowdsale did occur.
Unfortunately, it became evident that colored coins would not gain that much traction in the long run. More specifically, the concept quickly got pushed to the side once Ethereum ERC20 tokens started gaining traction. Even so, colored coins were perhaps slightly ahead of their time in terms of offering something people weren’t even looking for. It happens every now and then in the cryptocurrency world, but not every initiative is launched at the most opportune time.
Users of the Coinprism service should be aware that the platform will shut down on March 31. This also means their wallets will no longer be accessible from that date forward. The block explorer and API will also be shut down on that date, which is only to be expected. No one will be particularly surprised by this development, although some people may raise an eyebrow over it.
Since Coinprism doesn’t store any of its users’ private keys, users will need to ensure they can access their funds in a timely manner. Coinprism only stores an encrypted version of one’s private keys on the platform, which can be decrypted using the password generated during the signup process. If users have forgotten their passwords, there is nothing the company can do about it, unfortunately.
Once users export the private keys for their Coinprism wallets, they can sweep them into any other compatible wallet. This will allow users to access forked currencies, such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold, assuming they have not done so already. It is good to see that users can still access this money when everything is said and done, yet it remains to be seen if users will recall their passwords and 2FA info.
It is sad to see longstanding services such as Coinprism shut down, but it is only to be expected given the way things have been going. It is unclear what all of this means for the colored coin industry, as it seems there will be even less focus on this sector moving forward. An interesting future lies ahead for colored coins in general, although it remains to be seen if ERC20 tokens will continue to reign supreme.