(Image source: NYDIG website.)
NYDIG, a New York-based provider of technology and investment solutions for Bitcoin, has raised $100 million of additional growth capital from strategic partners including property/casualty insurers Starr Insurance (New York), Liberty Mutual Insurance (Boston), and other P&C insurers, joining NYDIG’s existing life insurance and annuity-focused strategic partners New York Life (New York) and MassMutual (Springfield, Mass.).
Mike Sapnar, CEO, TransRe.
NYDIG also announced that Mike Sapnar, CEO of TransRe (New York) would be joining as Global Head of Insurance Solutions. While overseeing all of NYDIG’s insurance activities, Sapnar will focus on accelerating bitcoin-driven innovation in the global property/casualty industry, according to a NYDIG statement. Sapnar is joined by Matt Carey, NYDIG’s U.S. Head of Insurance Solutions, who will be focused on bitcoin-powered solutions for U.S.-based life insurance and annuity providers. Prior to joining NYDIG, Carey was co-founder and CEO of online annuity marketplace Blueprint Income, recently acquired by MassMutual from Stone Ridge.
“The global property & casualty (P&C) industry is huge, paying out over $1 trillion in claims annually,” notes Robert Gutmann, co-founder and CEO, NYDIG. “I am excited to welcome Starr and Liberty Mutual to NYDIG, as part of our expansion of bitcoin into new areas of insurance. The team and I are also thrilled to welcome Mike and Matt to NYDIG. Mike has been a close collaborator with Stone Ridge since 2014, primarily with our catastrophe reinsurance asset management franchise and our non-catastrophe reinsurer, Longtail Re. Mike’s more than 30 years of experience will help NYDIG lead the way in bringing bitcoin to the insurance industry.”
Bitcoin-Powered Future
Hank Greenberg, Chairman and CEO, Starr.
Fiat depreciation causes inflation in fiat premiums, while collapsing the purchasing power of claims, says Ross Stevens, CEO, Stone Ridge and Executive Chairman, NYDIG. “We see a brighter Bitcoin-powered future for the billions who depend on the insurance industry every year,” he adds. “With the addition of Mike Sapnar, a trusted partner for years, and now with Starr, Liberty Mutual, New York Life, and MassMutual as shareholders of NYDIG, we will be working tirelessly to enable new bitcoin-denominated products for global insureds.”
Starr has been broadly and successfully investing with Stone Ridge across their various initiatives for years, including as a founding NYDIG investor in 2017, says Hank Greenberg, Chairman and CEO, Starr. “We are excited to continue our tradition of co-investment with them,” Greenberg adds. “We’ve also worked closely with Mike Sapnar for more than 25 years and congratulate Mike and NYDIG on his joining, and further propelling, the Stone Ridge ecosystem.”
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