Day/Date:      Tuesday, 4/28/2015

Time:             11:30am – 12:30pm (60 minutes)

General Overview of Session:

There are more than 13 million bitcoins—more than $8 billion—involved in tens of thousands transactions every month. Bitcoins have been recognized as virtual currency by the U.S. Treasury Department and deemed taxable property by the Internal Revenue Service. They can be converted to and from international currencies and used to buy everything from gift certificates to hotel room reservations. But what are the risks of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies? This session is hosted by RIMS New York Chapter.

Moderator:           Ty R. Sagalow, CEO & Founder, Innovation Insurance Group, Bitcoin Insurance Agency
Speaker:                Robert Parisi, Managing Director, Marsh
Risk Manager:      James Kirtland, Risk Manager, Voya Financial

According to Mr. Sagalow, 2014 was “a bullish year for Bitcoins.” Trading volume in increased 57% to over $23 billion. The number of Bitcoin transactions climbed to over 100,000 per day and there are currently 82,000 merchants accepting Bitcoins, including Microsoft, Dell, Dish Networks, Time and Expedia.com. The number is expected to grow to over 140,000 by the end of 2015.

Venture capitalists are also becoming more involved in the Bitcoin market, says Mr. Sagalow. They invested over $335 million in 18 different countries in 2014. In addition, Bitcoins are becoming more accepted as a means to payment for transactions, and the number of Bitcoin accounts (wallets) is expected to grow to 12 million by the end of 2015 – an increase of 4 million.

Mr. Sagalow says Coinbase was the first to announce a fully regulated Bitcoin commodity exchange listed in over 25 states, and regulators, led by NY State, are becoming friendlier to the Bitcoin industry.

The insurance industry, according to Mr. Sagalow, is also getting involved as the new risks associated with the theft of Bitcoin become exposed. In fact, he says a large global insurance company is planning to announce the first Bitcoin theft insurance policy.

For more on Innovations in Insurance with Ty Sagalow, visit the WRIN.tv On Demand Library

Localised in 21 languages, audiences will be able to watch the feature-length production through 250 content platforms including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Comcast. Dish Network, which recently became the second biggest merchant to accept the digital currency, will also show the movie on demand.

Featuring cameos from Gavin Andresen, Roger Ver, Mark Karpeles, Jared Kenna, Charlie Shrem and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin also offers insight into the first movers and shakers in the ecosystem.

Below is the trailer for the film:

Bitcoin Insurance Agency

At Innovation Insurance Group, we “get” bitcoin, and we set up an agency to handle the insurance needs, from the routine to the unique, of companies in the bitcoin industry. At Bitcoin Insurance Agency, we know the questions to ask and, through our “C” level relationships built over 30 years, we find the right insurance carriers for the specialized needs of the bitcoin community.

The panel will be moderated by Hank Watkins, who will engage the speakers in a conversation on three topics: (1) Reputational Risk, (2) Digital Currency (Bitcoin) Risk and Autonomous Vehicles (land and air), – each among the most commonly discussed risks the insurance industry has yet to provide a risk transfer solution to.  

Register here.

Our speakers are:

Ty Sagalow is the President of Innovation Insurance Group. Please click on this link to read Ty’s full bio on the Innovation Insurance Group website http://innovationinsurancegroup.com/about/ty-r-sagalow-ceo/ 

Dr. Mark J. Browne is the chair of the faculty of the School or Risk Management in the Tobin College of Business at the St. John’s University. Please click on this link to read Mark’s full bio on the St John’s websitehttp://www.stjohns.edu/academics/bio/mark-j-browne  

Peter Gerken is co-founder and Senior Vice President of Steel City Re. Please click on this link to read Peter’s full bio on the Steel City Re website http://www.steelcityre.com/ 

Hank Watkins is the President of Lloyds’s North America. Please click on this link to read Hank’s full bio on the Lloyd’ website http://www.lloyds.com/the-market/directories/corporation-of-lloyds/us-offices/new-york?LastName=watkins

Bitcoin’s best insurance option may be a hybrid policy _ Business Insurance

*post publication update:  The Bitcoin Insurance Agency, a division of Innovation Insurance Group, LLC. is working with several carriers to create a standalone Bitcoin Risk Insurance Policy with expected launch of January 2015.

Title III of the JOBS Act provide a registration exemption for limited-size offerings ($1 million per year) sold in small amounts to a large number of investors possible through the Internet. Basically, Crowdfunding will allow the average American to invest small sums of money into small businesses in their communities either as a loan or in return for a small equity stake in the company.  Currently, SEC regulations — written over 80 years ago — do not allow this type of investing.

Finalization of this exemption is still waiting for implementation regulations to be published by the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The original deadline for such publication was December 31, 2012 but the SEC is promising that there work will be done “soon”.

Meanwhile, states have stepped in to fill the gap.  Beginning with Georgia and Kansas, and now expanding to North Carolina, Wisconsin with others are not too far behind, states have adopted their own version “intrastate” securities-based crowdfunding.

Elsewhere in the Jobs Act, title II greatly expands the ability to issue private placement securities offerings including the lifting of the decades old prohibition of general solicitation and advertising.

These provisions can do much to enable small companies to raise funds and permit the “small investor” to get into some of the action previously available only to the large “well connected” investors.  But it doesn’t come without major concerns:

• What does all this mean for the D&O industry?
• What restraints will the SEC put on the will of Congress?
• How useful will Intra-state crowdfunding be in the meantime?
• What Insurance protection options exist today or should be created?