United Kingdom cryptocurrency banking platform Ziglu launched an insurance program on July 15 for digital assets held with the service. Under the new program, each customer’s cryptocurrency holdings are insured against cybercrime to a value of £50,000 ($63,000).
Customer assets are held in segregated accounts, with the vast majority stored in offline cold wallets. These additional measures decrease the risk of theft through hacking or other means.
Multi (fiat and crypto) currency accounts
As Cointelegraph reported, Ziglu is the brainchild of Mark Hipperson, former Barclays technology head, and co-founder of U.K. challenger bank, Starling.
The service launched last month, offering an account that allows users to hold funds in multiple fiat and crypto-currencies, and freely exchange between them. Its fully transparent model guarantees no hidden fees or transaction charges, and competitive exchange rates.
Hipperson explained:
“One of the biggest concerns for users is the safekeeping of their funds and cryptocurrencies. Ziglu’s insurance programme brings peace of mind to existing customers or those dipping their toes into cryptocurrency for the first time.”
£50,000 covered against “cybercrime”
Insuring against “cybercrime” clearly covers a diverse range of potential attack vectors. We asked Hipperson what type of attacks were perceived to be the most likely to require such cover:
“We expect the target to be the hot wallets but the type of attack changes rapidly which is why our insurance covers a broad spectrum of attacks on the digital asset wallets.”
The £50,000 limit currently applies per customer, although Hipperson said that Ziglu may look to expand this to be per cryptocurrency in the future.
Further future enhancements
Planned future additions to the service include direct global payments to friends, family, and businesses via banking networks. There is also talk of a Mastercard debit card.
The debit card will allow users to spend any currency they hold, including crypto, anywhere in the world. The card will apply direct currency conversion at point of sale, allowing users to easily hold and spend cryptocurrency alongside their fiat funds.
