Tabit Insurance Obtains $40m Bitcoin-Backed Financing Facility

Tabit Insurance, a provider of insurance products for the digital assets sector based in Barbados, has successfully raised $40 million through a Bitcoin-capitalized insurance facility.

In a press release, the company announced that this was the first time an insurance facility of this magnitude had been capitalized in Bitcoin (BTC). The company's auditors and regulators could verify the financing in real-time, thanks to the transparency offered by Bitcoin.

Tabit highlighted that Bitcoin offers enhanced transparency, which is particularly beneficial for the insurance industry. Additionally, the digital asset enables companies to explore alternative funding sources.

Although the company will maintain all the raised capital in BTC, insurance policies and premiums will still be denominated in U.S. dollars.

William Shihara, co-founder of Tabit, stated that the decision to support a capitalization effort entirely in Bitcoin demonstrates the company's confidence in the new payment method. It also shows their commitment to their partners.

"By blending traditional balance sheet strength with strategic assets such as bitcoin, we can stay agile in response to market fluctuations and better cater to the insurance community. This solution provides a regulated dollar return which we are excited to generate through an alternative asset class like bitcoin," Shihara added.

Registered in Barbados, Tabit is a licensed class 2 insurer by the Financial Services Commission. As a segregated cell company, the firm not only offers liability policies backed by BTC but also delivers dollar returns to BTC holders.

Bitcoin opens up a new path for the company into an ecosystem that is largely unexplored in the insurance space, according to Stephen Stonberg, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tabit. Stonberg is a former executive at Binance and Bittrex, and has also worked at JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and Credit Suisse Asset Management.

"We are eager to lead the insurance sector into the future by demonstrating the possibilities of allowing an insurer to tap into a largely new and untouched source of insurance capital: digital assets," he noted.