Cryptocurrency industry faces insurance hurdle to mainstream ambitions

There are currently about 30 million Bitcoin wallet users, according to Blockchain.com, about 10 million more than last December.

Cryptocurrency exchanges and traders in Asia are struggling to insure themselves against the risk of hacks and theft, a factor they claim is deterring large fund managers from investing in a nascent market yet to be embraced by regulators.

Getting the buy-in from insurers would mark an important step in crypto industry efforts to show that it has solved the problem of storing digital assets safely following the reputational damage of a series of thefts, and allow it to attract investment from mainstream asset managers.