Bittrex One Up’s Gemini, Coinbase By Securing $300M In Crypto Cold Storage Insurance

Bittrex has the highest insurance coverage offered by a crypto exchange until now after it has taken out a record $300 million insurance on digital assets held in cold storage.

The news was released on Thursday, the company says it will protect the holdings of its users from “external theft and internal collusion”. The CEO at Bittrex, Bill Shihara, mentioned that the $300 million limit cover is meant to offer peace of mind and prioritizes security.

Arch Syndicate 2012 Underwrote the Insurance

Providing specialized insurance to corporations, Arch Syndicate 2012 underwrote the insurance for Bittrex too. It approved the policy after Bittrex proved it has sound compliance and internal security protocols. One of the largest insurance markets in the world, Lloyd’s of London supported the policy.

“External theft” refers to theft done through physical intrusion into Bittrex’s cryptovault, seeing that cold wallets can’t really be hacked. The cover resembles the Arch’s Blue Vault that offers $150 million limits and covers both external and internal theft of digital assets.

Insurance Plays an Important Role in the Development of Crypto Businesses

The co-leader of Marsh’s Digital Asset Risk Transfer (DART) team, Sarah Downey, had this to say about the Bittrex policy, seeing her company assisted in drawing it up:

“Insurance plays a critical role in the growth and development of any business, including those that work with blockchain technology and digital assets.”

More and more businesses with users holding crypto decide to get insurance coverage. For example, custodial solution KNØX has Lloyd’s insurance that covers $100 million losses. More than this, the Winklevoss brothers earlier this month created an insurance company that guarantees losses of as much as $200 million for users of the Gemini exchange.

Before Bittrex, Coinbase was the one holding the record when it comes to the largest insurance, with $255 million against third party attacks on digital assets from the hot wallets they’re offering. However, it seems that Bittrex raised the bar by $45 million, which is quite a large sum for other exchanges to reach it soon.