Bitcoin Has Evolved Into Such a Major Asset It's Being Used For Life Insurance

Since the days of Bitcoin suffering 80% crashes, and mostly being associated with nefarious activity on the Silk Road, there is no denying the asset has grown up.

But how much has it grown up? Well, it's not just the hottest new thing being sold by suits on Wall Street, it's now also being bundled into life insurance.

At a recent event in our studio, Coinage hosted Hedgeye Digital Assets Analyst Ish Asad and Meanwhile's Chief Insurance Officer Jim Cristallo for a look back on Bitcoin's journey and how far it's come to now be included as an asset in everything from mortgages (if all goes as planned with the Federal Housing Finance Association) to life insurance policies.

"Bitcoin has clearly become a more serious asset," Asad said, noting the rise of Bitcoin treasury companies looking at a new way to leverage its status as digital gold. "I kind of think everybody has a duty to understand Bitcoin and it's different from the rest of crypto. I think Bitcoin is going to be a part of everyone's life, it's up to you whether you want to own it."

No doubt as Bitcoin gets interwoven into the fabric of the rest of the traditional financial system — most people might be exposed to Bitcoin's volatility without even knowing it. But for those who do own it, new ways of unlocking its value are popping up all over the place.

Not only are more decentralized finance opportunities popping up to give holders the ability to earn yield on their Bitcoin — as is the case with Layer2's like Botanix — but now, Meanwhile is attempting to pioneer life insurance policies paid in Bitcoin.

As Cristallo explains, that allows policy holders to pass on a legacy of wealth built in Bitcoin to their families more efficiently, but also allows people a way of potentially drawing on a policy when wanted without having to worry about traditional capital gains.

"If you're a Bitcoiner the idea of turning Bitcoin into dollars to buy a dollar-based life insurance policy seems absurd just on the surface," Cristallo said.

Meanwhile, which recently raised a $40 million Series A funding round, has been rolling out its Bitcoin life insurance policies to more people who have an increasing amount of their net worth in Bitcoin. As Cristallo explains, taking out a Bitcoin life insurance policy allows longer-term holders to build for a payout to family members and ensure certain tax advantages.

"Life insurance is a traditional tool that's used in this context every single day for people around the world," Cristallo said. "You have Larry Fink out there telling everybody to put 2% of your long term assets into Bitcoin. I think there's a very compelling case that if you're putting 2% of your long term assets in Bitcoin, you should have 2% of your life insurance in Bitcoin as well, because it's the same story."

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