Crypto insurer unwraps world-first reinsurance business

Relm, a company that provides insurance to the crypto sector and the first and only commercial insurer globally to hold Bermuda’s IIGB license, has announced the launch of Relm II, the world’s first fully regulated collateralised reinsurance business that can accept both fiat and cryptocurrencies as collateral.

Relm II enables the creation of regulated reinsurance capacity for companies operating in the crypto space, the insurer said. These businesses need significantly higher limits of protection than the current insurance and reinsurance market is able to provide. The capacity enabled by Relm II will allow Relm to expand its support for crypto businesses to achieve significant scale and growth.

The ability of Relm II to accept both fiat and crypto for collateral is “a critical distinction” in the collateralised reinsurance space, Relm said. It will allow Relm to tap into “substantial pools” of aligned investor capital to support traditional lines of coverage like directors and officers or professional liability, as well as the insurer’s recent product launches for smart contract failure insurance, slashing insurance and BTC-dominated crypto theft insurance.

There is a particular need for regulated coverage in the decentralised finance space, Relm said. According to theblockcrypto.com, there is currently more than US$225 billion in total value locked in smart contracts across nearly 2,000 projects. Since early 2020, more than US$1.8 billion of capital committed to decentralised finance has been lost via exploits. The addition of Relm II’s capacity will enable Relm to offer higher limits of coverage for smart contract failure, allowing institutional capital to move into the decentralised finance space with more appropriate levels of insurance protection.

“I am excited to be announcing the launch of Relm II at the iconic Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, where Relm is a sponsor for the second year running,” said Joe Ziolkowski, co-founder and CEO of Relm and Relm II. “As the world’s leading crypto insurer in our third year of operations, our mission is to energise crypto businesses, enabling them to scale and grow.

“Relm II is an extension of that mission and a further demonstration of our commitment to support emerging sectors and our ability to think creatively and utilise regulated (re)insurance infrastructure to solve capacity problems in the crypto industry. We are excited to collaborate with aligned capital partners to build meaningful insurance capacity as the crypto economy becomes mainstream.”