Bitcoin IRA and BitGo are partnering to offer insurance plans for crypto-based individual retirement accounts.
Bitcoin IRA, a firm that offers crypto for individual retirement accounts (IRAs), is partnering with BitGo to offer full insurance plans on these accounts.
BitGo announced that its custody arm, BitGo Trust, has prepared a $100 million fund in cold storage to be used for this insurance. Bitcoin IRA as a whole has made $350 million in IRA crypto asset transactions since the company’s launch in 2016. Although the cold storage reserves that BitGo has dedicated to this insurance will not be guaranteed for every single account, the sheer volume of these reserves should, practically speaking, cover any damages that may occur.
This trend continues a string of expansions in BitGo Trust over the past several months. BitGo received approval from regulators to enter business in September 2018. The company hired traditional wealth management veteran Richard Corcoran in December to head up the division. After several months of preparation, BitGo Trust launched its first major standalone project in May 2019, giving BitGo clients an off-chain clearing and settlement system. With BitGo’s services typically directed toward institutional clients, this individual-heavy platform is something of a break from the company’s usual bread and butter. BitGo’s CEO Mike Belshe said that “Bitcoin IRA delivers an innovative retirement platform,” adding that the partnership between the two has “built the industry's best offering for retail investors who want to make digital assets a part of their retirement investment strategy.”