Crypto holders are exposed to a significant amount of risk. Increasingly sophisticated hackers can easily drain crypto account balances as they have in the past (does Mt. Gox ring any bells?).
Ledger, which helps to secure crypto account balances using its hardware wallet that stores users’ private cryptocurrency keys, made an announcement today that will help its users feel even more secure. The Paris-based company arranged a $150 million insurance policy covering digital assets secured using the Ledger Vault platform.
Ledger has been working for the past year with broker and risk advisor Marsh and crypto-asset insurance underwriter, Arch Insurance (a syndicate of Lloyd’s of London), to create the insurance policy. The policy insures crypto assets up to $150 million in the event of:
- Third-party theft of the master seed and private keys following a physical breach of a hardware security module in a secure data center
- Secure transmissions of the master seed fragments upon client onboarding
- Ledger employee theft caused by collusion
“We consider insurance a crucial part of a comprehensive plan as digital assets gain a foothold in institutional portfolios. As a new class of assets, securing digital currencies has become a complex challenge for both institutions and insurers,” said Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier. “Through our efforts with Marsh and Arch to curate this comprehensive crime insurance policy, we are playing a pivotal role in the movement to secure and insure all critical digital assets.”
Since Ledger is not a digital asset custodian it is not required to carry insurance. However, the company wanted to take the extra step to insure clients’ digital assets. Ledger is also giving its clients the option to directly purchase their own primary coverage.
At FinovateEurope 2016 Ledger’s then-CEO (and now Executive Chairman) Eric Larchevêque debuted Ledger Blue, a touch-screen smart card for developers that offers a second display and thwarts malware attacks by delivering the correct payment address.
Ledger has sold more than 1.5 million Nano devices. The company’s institutional offering, the Nano Vault, has more than 40 clients located among APAC, MENA, and the Americas. Since it was founded in 2014, Ledger has raised $88 million.