Copper's cold-storage insurance fund hits $500 million

Copper, an institution-grade crypto infrastructure provider, has $500 million of insurance for digital assets in cold storage. The cover uses a panel of specialty insurer Canopius-led insurers and was arranged by Aon, a professional services firm.

The insurance covers employee collusion, third-party theft and physical loss, according to a press release, and accompanies Copper's existing Aon-brokered crime insurance policy.

Copper cites a growing demand for cold-storage solutions and offline protection from institutional-level industry and market participants as driving its insurance solution.

The firm's announcement comes less than 24 hours after embattled crypto exchange FTX halted user withdrawals — freezing many customers' funds in the process and putting the topics of cold storage and offline custody toward the forefront of the discussion.

“People have a legitimate reason to worry about the security of their digital assets if one of the world’s largest centralized exchanges ends up in financial difficulties,” Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Paris-based Ledger, said in a statement. “The message has never been more urgent: If you don’t own your keys, you don’t own your crypto, regardless of whatever reassurances are published in the coming days."