A major US insurance company, the Great American Financial Group, has become the first in the sector to offer Bitcoin coverage to commercial and governmental clients.
The company said Monday that its fidelity and crime division is already offering coverage in some US states and pending approval in others, as part of a drive to meet the “evolving needs of customers.”
The group said in a press release:
“Crime insurance coverage for bitcoins can now be granted by endorsement to an existing crime policy for mercantile and governmental customers who accept bitcoin in order to provide coverage for this increasingly popular method of payment, and to tailor coverage to fit the unique needs of the insured.”
The company did not specify in which states Bitcoin coverage was already available, nor a timeline for coverage rollout in pending states.
As the insurance sector is notoriously conservative in extending coverage to new assets, especially ones like cryptocurrency that are still in development and constantly evolving, the move appears to be an endorsement for the long-term stability of Bitcoin. Though the insurance group is currently extending coverage only to interested business and government clients, the decision is an optimistic first step toward individual coverage policies for private users.
The Great American Insurance Group, which specializes in property and casualty coverage, is the insurance division of the American Financial Group (AFG), a holding company founded in 1872 and based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The group held $38.7 billion in total assets as of March 2014, according to its annual balance filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
