On March 18, BitGo announced a new offer of dedicated excess insurance coverage to its Custody clients. Crypto.com is one of the first clients to adopt the program.
BitGo has come out with a dedicated Customer Excess Specie Insurance Purchasing Program. It offers the strongest and lowest cost full coverage for digital assets in the market at present.
According to sources, specialty insurance broker, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. partnering with Paragon Brokers, would be offering the new insurance program.
BitGo’s existing policy
Only last year, BitGo introduced a very comprehensive insurance protection policy for digital assets through, the insurance and reinsurance specialists from London, Lloyds. The insurance protection included $100 million USD for assets held in BitGo Custody.
This new Customer Excess Specie Insurance Purchasing Program will allow clients the opportunity to purchase their own dedicated excess limits beyond its $100 million policy. BitGo becomes the first-ever digital asset custodians to offer such a program.
Besides, BitGo clients who purchase this new insurance would be termed as “Dedicated Customer Loss Payee” in the policy. This will ensure that they enjoy an additional layer of protection.
BitGo also announced that Crypto.com is all set to become one of the first clients to make use of the Dedicated Customer Excess limits policy.
In the words of Kris Marszalek, the co-founder, and CEO of Crypto.com: “BitGo carries a robust insurance program, elevating the scope of protection for our digital assets in their custody and providing further assurance to our customers that their funds are safe and protected.”
“Cold” and “Hot” wallets
There is one point to note, however, about the new program. The $100 million policy is only for “cold” wallets, where the cryptographic keys are kept offline.
According to sources, customers could also purchase insurance for “hot” wallets, where the cryptographic keys are kept online, but it has to be done via BitGo-Coincover.
Both firms partnered last November to launch “cryptocurrency wills,” a kit that is available on Amazon.
“I’m very proud of the team because this innovative program is only possible thanks to the foundation of cold storage insurance that BitGo and our underwriters established in 2019,” says Mike Belshe, the CEO of BitGo. He was elaborating on the details about the new program.
Key features of the insurance program
The key features of the Excess Specie Insurance are highlighted below:
- Policy limits can be adjustable
- The $100 million policy allows competitive premiums
- Prorated premium to ensure clients don’t pay for more than the relevant period of protection
BitGo, since 2013, has been a leading provider of digital asset financial services. Its backers include notable investors like Goldman Sachs’ Principal Strategic Investments, Galaxy Digital Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners, among others. According to reports, the firm has raised $69.5 million in total funding to date.
Earlier, we covered Bitgo’s pilot crypto lending service. They also acquired the Harbor digital platform recently to expand services beyond crypto custody.
