Is it time for bitcoin life insurance?

With about 28% of U.S. adults now holding some form of cryptocurrency, Zac Townsend believes it is time to consider a bitcoin life insurance policy as part of a protection plan.

Townsend founded Meanwhile, the world’s first and only bitcoin life insurance company. Meanwhile is the only licensed and government-regulated life insurer that is fully denominated and operating in bitcoin. The firm’s flagship product, bitcoin whole life, offers long-term protection and bitcoin-based savings.

Meanwhile was founded in 2022 in Bermuda, where Townsend said life insurance is referred to as “long-term insurance.”

“I think that is a good emphasis on how it’s really about long-term savings and protection,” he told InsuranceNewsNet.

Meanwhile wrote its first life insurance policy in November 2023.

Townsend has a fintech background. He and Meanwhile’s cofounder were interested in how to use technology to build a global, tech-first insurance company. After considering several ideas, they looked at bitcoin.

“We believe bitcoin will be a long-term, durable store of value and there will be more economic systems inside or denominated in bitcoin,” he said.

Meanwhile started out selling coverage to high net worth individuals, and Townsend he plans to eventually take the company downmarket and serve more consumers globally.

Meanwhile sells online

The company sells its whole life product online.

“Like a lot of offshore direct insurers, we primarily operate under sort of reverse solicitation. So people hear about us - that could be word of mouth,” Townsend said. “We also have some third-party distribution through agencies that specialize in serving high net worth individuals and have an offshore agency. But primarily, people hear about us, they go to our website and then they buy the policy.”

Meanwhile’s bitcoin whole life policy is a 10-pay product with premiums paid in bitcoin and the death benefit paid in bitcoin.

“We often ask customers the question, would you want your beneficiaries to get up to $1.5 million or would you prefer they get 15 bitcoin?” Townsend said. “There are many people in the world who would say, ‘I want the $1.5 million. Don’t give me those magic beans.’ Those people aren’t our customers. The people who are our customers are those who believe 15 bitcoin will be worth a lot more in the future.”

Serving those who already believe in bitcoin

Meanwhile’s target customers are 35- to 55-year-old men “who already believe in bitcoin,” Townsend said.

“We don’t see it as our mission to convince people to buy bitcoin. We see it as our mission to serve people who already decided to buy bitcoin and then provide this protection product,” he said.

Townsend said Meanwhile’s customer base can be split into two groups.

“One is native to bitcoin or crypto. They tend to be a little younger but they’re ‘growing up.’ A lot of them bought bitcoin in 2015 when they were 25 years old without a lot going on in their lives and now they are getting married, having children, thinking about life through the lens that leads you to life insurance.

“The second group is more classically high net worth individuals. They are business owners and entrepreneurs, people with family offices. They’ve made a decision to own cryptocurrency for inflation risk reasons or currency risk or whatever other reasons, and then they find us because they’re looking for a way to hold that asset that isn’t just in their brokerage account. They might have private placement life insurance, or they might have a high coverable life. So having part of that protection or savings in bitcoin makes a lot of sense.”

Townsend said Meanwhile is beginning to work with carriers that are interested in offering products that are indexed to the price of bitcoin or have some bitcoin-exclusive manager.

“A lot of carriers globally are starting to think, maybe we should tell our customers that they should have a certain amount of exposure to bitcoin in in these products, and we're working to facilitate that.”

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Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected].