Evertas is the world’s first crypto insurance company and the only one backed by the Lloyd’s of London — as well as Accelerant. The mission of Evertas is to bring scalable risk transfer solutions and subject matter expertise to the crypto industry, thereby driving adoption.
Thomas Shewchuck, Head of Underwriting at Evertas, shared his journey working with Accelerant after over 15 years in the insurance industry.
In 2022, Thomas co-founded Bitsure — the first MGU solely focused on providing Property, Business Interruption, and Liability coverage for cryptocurrency mining companies — and sought a company that would be open-minded to underwriting this emerging space.
“Accelerant was more curious than judgmental, embracing the chance for us to educate,” Thomas recalled. “And onboarding was extremely smooth — we liked that Accelerant could streamline the process without sacrificing thorough due diligence.”
Thomas points to Accelerant’s full suite of services as a major contributing factor to this: “They have an in-house expert for anything we need — marketing ideas, compliance issues, reporting requirements, contract language. We didn’t expect such access to these resources.”
Among these is support in product development and updating contract language to keep up with the changing crypto environment.
“Crypto is fast-paced, and the risk is ever-evolving, so it helps to have a second set of eyes,” said Thomas. “While we can quantify the risk, Accelerant offers perspective. Their team asks us questions we assume we know, and it keeps us honest, challenging us to re-evaluate different aspects of our business.”
Recently, Accelerant collaborated with Evertas to ideate for a scenario without precedent. Evertas insures the commercial liability of mining sites, a very small portion of which are near residential areas and could receive noise complaints as a result of the fans cooling the computers. While it’s possible such circumstances could be covered under general liability, they haven’t been litigated yet, so it’s difficult to foresee damages. Accelerant helped Evertas develop a Noise and Sound Liability endorsement that modified previously ambiguous language to be specific in its limits.
The team has been consistently pleased by Accelerant’s flexibility and the speed at which they can access mental capital to get projects over the line. Accelerant has helped Evertas skyrocket their market capture by increasing limits and broadening risk profiles the company can entertain. As a result of Accelerant’s support, Evertas has also seen a higher Quote-to-Buy ratio, improved workflow, less problems managing compliance, and decreased time spent underwriting single accounts.
Most of all, Thomas appreciates Accelerant’s five-year capacity commitment: “It’s a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders, not worrying where our capacity comes from on an annual basis.”
As Thomas looks to the future, he expects to continue seeing changes in the profile of crypto clientele, and it will be more challenging to assess risk while staying within the guidelines of agreements with their trading partners. As the crypto market grows and reaches all-time highs, open communication with Accelerant will allow Evertas to easily keep up.
“Be proactive, not reactive, when communicating with Accelerant,” Thomas encourages other Members. “If you have doubts about a direction to head in or ideas for a new jurisdiction or line of market, reach out – you might not even be aware of the wealth of resources Accelerant can offer. And remember that Accelerant is a partner: Foster that relationship, and they will help you grow.”