Lloyd’s of London insures Kingdom Trust’s crypto custody platform

Lloyd’s of London, a leading UK-based insurance firm, is now extending its insurance cover on cryptocurrencies.

Kingdom Trust, a qualified custodian for over 30 different assets, on Tuesday announced that it has secured insurance for digital assets held on its qualified custody platform through Lloyd’s of London. The insurance was successfully placed by broker SDBIC.

The announcement follows a recent Market Bulletin from Lloyd’s in which Caroline Dunn, Head of Class of Business Performance Management, provided guidance on the writing of insurance products for cryptocurrencies, decentralised digitised assets and related transactions.

“In view of their novel nature and the absence of clear regulatory frameworks and precedents for cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets, Lloyd’s considers that managing agents should proceed with a level of caution that recognises the risks associated with this class of asset,” Dunn said.

Reuters reported that the insurance coverage will protect against theft and destruction of the digital assets. While Matt Jennings, CEO of Kingdom Trust, did not reveal specific terms, he said that the firm had received a “drastic discount” because of its technology – a type of “cold storage,” in which digital assets are stored offline.

“Qualified custody by a regulated, insured financial institution is a top priority and critical hurdle for institutions to invest in the digital asset markets,” Jennings said. “By adding another trusted specialist like Lloyd’s to our platform, we’re ensuring that current and future clients will have access to a highly-secure, complete safekeeping solution tailored to meet the challenges of institutional finance.”

Registered and regulated in the state of South Dakota, Kingdom Trust provides over 100,000 clients (with over $12 billion in assets under custody) a level of security, accounting, reporting and insurance for digital currencies. It released a white paper in June clarifying the concept of “qualified custody.”

Earlier this year, BitGo entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Kingdom Trust, but later decided not to proceed with the acquisition.

Last month, Kingdom Trust started accepting investments in Zcash (ZEC) and Stellar Lumens (XLM). Other digital assets held on its platform include Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP).