Crypto Shield, a new product from Boost Insurance and InsurTech Breach Insurance, debuted Tuesday (Feb. 15) to cover the theft of cryptocurrencies.
The service will be in use whenever cryptos are in the custody of exchanges like Coinbase or Binance.US, according to a ZDNet report.
Cryptocurrency owners are fearful that their digital wallets are susceptible to electronic thieves, necessitating the service. Now, if the custodian is breached or has a social engineering attack, individuals will be reimbursed up to the value of the policy they have.
Commercial insurance is available for institutions that hold crypto, but there haven’t been insurance policies for individual owners of crypto, who are known as retail wallet owners.
Crypto Shield covers 20 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Tether, Solana, Dogecoin and stablecoins such as USD Coin, among others.
“It’s built specifically for us who may dabble in crypto but don’t necessarily have institutional-grade accounts,” Boost Insurance CEO and founder Alex Maffeo said in an interview with ZDNet.
The insurance policy will cover up to $1 million in cryptocurrency, and the monthly premiums are tied to the value in the policy holders digital wallet.
In other news regarding crypto thefts, Crypto.com said Jan. 20 it lost $30 million in bitcoin and ethereum from a theft.
See also: Crypto.com Says Hackers Stole More Than $30M in Bitcoin and Ethereum
The Singapore-based exchange said that it learned a few days earlier that the hack had happened. Hackers bypassed its two-factor authentication system and withdrew funds from 483 accounts.
“Crypto.com promptly suspended withdrawals for all tokens to initiate an investigation and worked around the clock to address the issue,” the company wrote. “No customers experienced a loss of funds. In the majority of cases, we prevented the unauthorized withdrawal, and in all other cases customers were fully reimbursed.”
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