Working with Welsh cryptocurrency startup Coincover, Lloyd’s of London has launched a new insurance policy to protect cryptocurrency held in online wallets against theft or other malicious hacks
With the significant support of Development Bank of Wales and Welsh Angel Investors, Coincover is a FinTech/Insurtech start-up in Cardiff, enabling the safest way for businesses and consumers to buy, hold, accumulate, transfer and spend cryptocurrency. The company is the latest contribution to Wales’ booming £8.5bn tech sector.
After strong pick up in the beta testing phase, Coincover this week formally launched their cryptocurrency insurance product to the market, backed by a consortium of prestigious Lloyd’s of London insurers, led by Atrium. This is a ground breaking, first of its kind liability policy to protect against losses arising from the theft of cryptocurrency held in online, hot wallets, with a dynamic limit that increases or decreases in line with the price changes of crypto assets.
“The insurance underwriting of the Coincover product by Lloyd’s of London is a major achievement for the business, and positions Cardiff and Wales at the forefront of massively growing digital asset revolution. Coincover is already working with an international business customer base of asset managers, private wealth managers, crypto exchanges, IFA’s and banks, and plans to be supporting in excess of five million end users through its platform by the end of 2021.”
Coincover is the only SaaS platform that enables businesses to offer cryptocurrency to their customers without the risk of theft of loss, enabling those cryptocurrency businesses to grow faster and make digital assets more accessible to the market. Cryptocurrency is already a $250BN market globally with the World Economic Forum projecting that the crypto asset market will be worth $27TN by 2027. Over $40 BN of crypto assets have been lost (by virtue of loss of digital keys, loss of hardware wallets or death of digital key holders) or stolen (primarily due to poor security constructs) since 2010. With Coincover, loss and theft are a thing of the past with both scenarios being covered by insurance for 100% customer peace of mind.
Coincover is also the first and only provider of ‘Cryptocurrency Wills’ – wills which ensure that investors’ loved ones can retrieve cryptocurrency investments in the event of their death.
James Gadbury, Senior Broker, Prospect, the insurance broker that worked with Atrium and Coincover to create the policy, said: “We are delighted to have provided Coincover with this new insurance cover, which demonstrates the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of Lloyd’s. We believe Prospect and the wider insurance market should support this rapidly developing sector as it moves into the mainstream.”
Around 45,000 people are employed within the digital economy in Wales with main hubs focused in Cardiff, Newport Swansea and Wrexham. Universities across the country also support the sector by producing around 7,500 computer science and engineering graduates each year.
Three of the most prominent UK InsurTech companies – GoCompare, Confused.com, part of the Admiral Group, and MoneySupermarket.com are indigenous companies headquartered in Wales. Up and coming FinTech start-ups, such as Wealthify, Amplyfi and Vizolution are enjoying rapid growth, and tech giant Equiniti chose to open its FinTech innovation centre in Cardiff. Monzo was the first challenger bank to nearshore to Wales from London, Starling Bank is now launching in Cardiff, and Metro Bank is in the process of opening two stores in the capital.
