Coinspeaker
Gemini Crypto Custody Branch Now Insured with $200 Million

Gemini crypto exchange was founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. The company has announced that it has set up its in-house insurance company Nakamoto Limited that will protect its clients against any probable loss of coins stored in its offline vaults. Reportedly, the company has offered a possibly record-breaking $200 million coverage limit for Gemini Custody.

Announced on January 16, the captive insurer will cover customers of the crypto cold storage service operated by Gemini Trust Company. Normally, most of the cold storage policies cover losses due to insider collusions and thefts. It also covers the destruction of private keys by natural calamities like earthquakes and floods.

Cold storage is the practice of storing the cryptographic keys that control a cryptocurrency wallet offline. The keys are kept on a hardware device that is disconnected from the internet or a slip of paper which is locked in a safe.

Apart from its size, the Gemini policy shows that the once-meager supply of insurance coverage available to the crypto companies is constantly growing. The growth is evident even if the companies have to create some of it themselves.

In 2019, Aon insurance broker and Coinbase crypto exchange unveiled their plans to create a captive. At that time, Aon stated that it had captive creation deals with several other exchanges in the pipeline. Gemini’s new policy supplements its captive with coverage from external insurers. According to the company’s head of risk, Yusuf Hussain, the policy has:

“The largest limit of insurance coverage currently available by any crypto custodian in the world.”

Hussain may be right although it might be quite challenging to make comparisons in the current market. Coinbase reportedly has $255 million in coverage of assets. Their assets are held in hot or online wallets. On the other hand, the new Gemini policy covers cold storage. In the past, the most notable insurance brokerage was Marsh’s Blue Vault. This brokerage offered $150 million for coins put in cold storage.

Gemini’s captive insurance company goes by the name Nakamoto, named after Bitcoin’s mysterious creator. The company is licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). Many insurance carriers prefer registering in Bermuda due to its favorable regulatory environment for bespoke entities and products like captives. Nakamoto will only insure Gemini clients and not competitors.

Aon and Marsh insurance brokers helped in the launch of Nakamoto Limited. Allegedly, Gemini’s custodial clients can also buy additional insurance from Nakamoto Ltd. to secure their holdings beyond the general $200 million.

According to Hussain, the advancement in the company’s custodial coverage will let several of Gemini’s institutional customers to continue to meet their regulatory mandates. He added that the move is:

“Consistent with Gemini’s approach of being a security-first, compliance-first, and regulatory friendly exchange and custodian.”

Gemini launched its custody wing for the first time in September 2019.

Insurance has always been a major hiccup for different crypto investment services seeking to dive into the more risk-averse traditional financial players. Lloyd’s of London has come in to secure the hot wallet holdings of Coinbase and Kingdom Trust’s custody business.

Referring to Gemini’s history with advancing insurance into digital assets investments, Hussain said that Gemini’s 2018 move to insure hot wallet holdings is significant evidence of the company’s desire to offer security in the industry.

Gemini president Cameron Winklevoss commented:

“Obtaining meaningful insurance in the crypto industry remains a challenge, and our captive will help to increase our insurance capacity and move the industry forward.”

The custody arm of hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger, Ledger Vault, got a crime insurance policy. That policy covered all their custodied assets through Arch Insurance Limited in November 2019. That policy offers up to $150 million in crime loss coverage for the users’ digital assets on the platform.

Gemini Crypto Custody Branch Now Insured with $200 Million

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