Bitcoin Custody Insurance: The Complete Guide (2026)

Sometimes, and only in specific ways. Bitcoin held in custody can be covered by a custodian's crime or specie insurance policy, which pays out if bitcoin is lost to theft, employee dishonesty, or certain security failures. It is not covered by FDIC or SIPC, which protect bank deposits and brokerage securities, not bitcoin and not price movements. Coverage varies widely by provider. Some custodians carry pooled commercial crime policies, some carry per-vault or segregated coverage, and many disclose little publicly. This guide explains what custody insurance does and does not do, how it differs from deposit insurance, and how to verify a provider's coverage.

Key takeaways

• Custody insurance is crime or specie insurance, not deposit insurance. It can reimburse losses from theft or certain security failures. It does not protect against bitcoin's price falling.
• FDIC and SIPC do not cover bitcoin held in custody. FDIC covers bank deposits, SIPC covers securities at failed brokerages, and neither applies to a bitcoin holding or to price loss.
• Coverage structure matters. A pooled policy insures a custodian's holdings in aggregate up to a limit; per-vault or segregated coverage is scoped differently. The two are not interchangeable.
• The insured party is usually the custodian, not the individual holder. A policy that pays the custodian is only useful to a customer if the custodian's obligations and the claims process reach the customer.
• Specialty insurers, including Lloyd's of London syndicates, underwrite the architectures they assess as lower-risk. Underwriting is an evaluation, not a guarantee.
• Verify, do not assume. Ask for the carrier, the coverage amount, the policy type, whether coverage is per-vault or pooled, and the as-of date. Treat undisclosed terms as unknown.

What bitcoin custody insurance actually covers

Custody insurance for bitcoin is a form of crime or specie insurance. Specie policies cover high-value physical and digital property held in secure storage; crime policies cover loss from theft, fraud, and employee dishonesty. Applied to a bitcoin custodian, these policies are generally written to respond when private keys or the bitcoin they control are lost through covered events such as external theft, an insider taking assets, or damage to or destruction of the key material held in cold storage.

The scope is narrower than most people assume. Policies define covered perils precisely, carry limits and deductibles, and often distinguish between assets held in online, or hot, systems and assets held offline in cold storage. A policy may cover one and not the other, or cover each to a different limit. What is covered is defined by the policy wording, not by the general idea that the bitcoin is insured.

What custody insurance does not cover

Three exclusions are near-universal and worth stating plainly.

First, price loss is never covered. No custody policy reimburses a holder because the price of bitcoin fell. Insurance responds to loss of the asset, not to changes in its market value.

Second, the holder's own mistakes are generally not covered. Sending bitcoin to the wrong address, being socially engineered into authorizing a transfer, or losing self-custodied keys sits outside a custodian's crime policy.

Third, FDIC and SIPC do not apply. This is the most common misunderstanding, and it has a dedicated explainer: Is Bitcoin FDIC Insured?.

FDIC and SIPC versus crime insurance versus per-vault coverage

These three are frequently blurred together in marketing, so it helps to separate them.

FDIC insurance protects deposits at insured banks, up to 250,000 dollars per depositor per bank, if the bank fails. It covers dollars, not bitcoin. Some platforms hold customer US dollar balances at partner banks where FDIC pass-through insurance can apply to the cash, which is a real protection for the cash and no protection at all for bitcoin.

SIPC insurance protects customers of failed brokerage firms by covering missing securities and cash, up to statutory limits. Bitcoin held in custody is not a security registered with SIPC, so SIPC coverage does not apply to it.

Crime and specie insurance is the category that can actually respond to a stolen or lost bitcoin holding. It is private commercial insurance the custodian buys, with negotiated limits and terms, not a government backstop.

Per-vault versus pooled coverage is a distinction within crime and specie insurance. A pooled policy covers a custodian's holdings in aggregate up to a single limit, which can be exhausted by a large loss regardless of how many customers are affected. Per-vault or segregated coverage is structured around individual custody arrangements. The difference matters enough to warrant its own explainer: Per-Vault vs Pooled Insurance: What's the Difference?.

Why Lloyd's underwriting standards matter

Lloyd's of London is a specialist insurance marketplace where syndicates underwrite risks that standard insurers avoid, including digital-asset custody. Its relevance here is not that a Lloyd's policy is a seal of safety. It is that specialty insurers underwrite the architectures they assess as lower-risk, and they price and limit coverage according to that assessment.

Framed as an evaluation rather than an endorsement, this means an underwriter examining a custody operation will look at how private keys are generated and stored, whether control is distributed across multiple parties or concentrated in one, whether storage is offline, and whether the operation is independently audited. An architecture that concentrates control and stores keys online presents a different risk profile than one that distributes control across multiple institutions in cold storage. Underwriters respond to that difference in what they are willing to cover and on what terms. This is a useful external signal, but it is a signal, not a guarantee, and it does not replace reading the actual policy. The mechanics are covered in How Lloyd's of London Underwrites Bitcoin Custody.

How to verify a provider's coverage

Insurance claims are easy to make and harder to substantiate. A holder or institution evaluating a custodian can ask for specifics and treat anything undisclosed as unknown.

• Who is the carrier? A named insurer or syndicate can be verified. "Fully insured" with no carrier named cannot.
• What is the coverage amount, and against what? A limit is only meaningful alongside the covered perils and the total assets under custody it sits behind.
• Is coverage per-vault or pooled? This determines whether a single large loss can exhaust the limit for everyone.
• Hot, cold, or both? Confirm whether cold storage holdings are covered and to what limit.
• Who is the insured party, and how does a customer benefit? Most policies pay the custodian. Understand how that reaches the customer.
• What is the as-of date? Policies renew and change. A figure without a date is not verifiable.

Coverage comparison across custody platforms

The table below is a working placeholder. Cells are filled only where coverage is publicly documented and datable. Where a platform's terms are not publicly disclosed, the table says so rather than estimating. This is a research scaffold, not a rating.

Platform · Carrier · Coverage amount · Per-vault vs pooled · Source · As-of date
Onramp · Lloyd's of London · Up to $100 million per incident · Not publicly disclosed · Onramp public disclosures · 2026
Coinbase · Not publicly disclosed · Commercial crime insurance on hot storage (existence publicly documented; amount not publicly disclosed) · Pooled (crime policy covers hot storage in aggregate, not per customer) · Coinbase public disclosures · 2026
Gemini · Not publicly disclosed · Not publicly disclosed · Not publicly disclosed · Not publicly disclosed · 2026
BitGo · Not publicly disclosed · Not publicly disclosed · Not publicly disclosed · Not publicly disclosed · 2026
Kraken · Not publicly disclosed · Not publicly disclosed · Not publicly disclosed · Not publicly disclosed · 2026

Onramp's insurance is documented as up to $100 million per incident, through Lloyd's of London. Coinbase publicly documents that it maintains commercial crime insurance covering a portion of digital assets held in hot storage; the current coverage amount is treated here as not publicly disclosed pending a datable primary source. The remaining rows are placeholders for a human to source against each provider's own current disclosures before publication.

Frequently asked questions

Is my bitcoin insured when I hold it at a custodian?

It may be, but only against specific events and only if the custodian carries a relevant crime or specie policy. Such policies can respond to theft or certain security failures. They do not cover price loss, and they are not FDIC or SIPC coverage. Whether coverage reaches you as a customer depends on the policy terms and the custodian's obligations, so confirm the specifics rather than assuming coverage exists.

Does FDIC or SIPC protect bitcoin?

No. FDIC insures bank deposits denominated in dollars if a bank fails, and SIPC protects securities and cash at failed brokerages. Neither covers a bitcoin holding, and neither covers a decline in bitcoin's price. Some platforms hold customer cash at partner banks where FDIC pass-through insurance can apply to the dollars, but that protection is for the cash, not for any bitcoin held alongside it.

What is the difference between pooled and per-vault coverage?

A pooled policy insures a custodian's holdings in aggregate up to one limit, which a single large loss can exhaust regardless of how many customers are affected. Per-vault or segregated coverage is structured around individual custody arrangements rather than a shared pool. The distinction affects how much protection remains available in a large loss, which is why the policy structure matters as much as the headline limit.

Why does it matter that Lloyd's underwrites a custodian?

Specialty insurers underwrite architectures they assess as lower-risk and price coverage according to that assessment, so the willingness of a Lloyd's syndicate to cover an operation is a useful external signal about its risk profile. It is an evaluation, not a guarantee. It does not certify that a loss will be reimbursed, and it does not replace reading the actual policy terms, limits, and exclusions.

How can I verify a custodian's insurance claims?

Ask for the named carrier, the coverage amount and the perils it covers, whether coverage is per-vault or pooled, whether cold storage is included, who the insured party is, and the as-of date. A specific, datable answer can be checked. A general claim such as "fully insured" with no carrier or terms cannot, and it should be treated as unverified until documented.

The bottom line

Bitcoin in custody can be insured, but only in narrow and specific ways. Custody insurance is private crime or specie coverage that responds to theft and certain security failures, never to price loss, and it is not FDIC or SIPC protection. The useful questions are structural: who the carrier is, what the policy covers, whether coverage is pooled or per-vault, and how it reaches the customer. Underwriting by a specialist insurer is a meaningful signal about architecture, not a guarantee of reimbursement. Verify the specifics, and treat anything undisclosed as unknown.

Related reading:

• Is Bitcoin FDIC Insured?
• Is My Bitcoin Insured on Coinbase?
• Per-Vault vs Pooled Insurance: What's the Difference?
• How Lloyd's of London Underwrites Bitcoin Custody

Editorial note: This guide is editorially independent and published by Onramp Bitcoin. Insurance terms for platforms other than where publicly documented are marked "not publicly disclosed" and must be sourced against each provider's own current disclosures before publication. Onramp's coverage is stated as up to $100 million per incident, through Lloyd's of London. See Editorial Independence.