OneDegree announces multi-year partnership with Munich Re to launch "OneInfinity" digital asset insurance
HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 11 April 2022 - OneDegree Hong Kong Limited ("OneDegree") announced today that it has entered into a three-year strategic partnership with Munich Re to launch OneInfinity, a digital asset insurance product, making OneDegree the first licensed insurer in Asia to collaborate with a global leading reinsurer in offering digital asset insurance.
OneInfinity is an insurance and technology product offering designed specifically for digital asset trading platforms, custodians, asset managers and technology providers. Under this partnership, Munich Re will provide reinsurance capacity and support OneDegree's technical underwriting. The partners also commit to building modeling capabilities based on OneDegree's unique CeFi and DeFi incident database to support future product innovation.
OneInfinity bundles OneDegree insurance with Cymetrics' solutions. Cymetrics helps companies examine cyber, blockchain and digital asset risks from the perspective of hackers and insiders in a more agile and flexible way. Cymetrics is a separate product offered by a sister company of OneDegree.
With the rapid and mass adoption of digital assets, the global market value of digital assets surged to a record high of US$3 trillion by the end of 2021[1]. To ensure the community's sustainable growth, a key strategic priority shared by Web3 builders, operators, participants and policy makers is to build a compliant and secure Web3 ecosystem by establishing and adopting best practice in risk management. However, lack of insurance capacity has not only put Web3 practitioners at greater risk, but also hampered institutional investors' participation. One of the key reasons for the lack of insurance capacity globally is the scarcity of data and expertise to underwrite risks related to digital assets.
Authorized by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority as a virtual insurer since April 2020, OneDegree has quickly established itself as the leading virtual insurer in the Hong Kong market by number of paid users. Its tech DNA gives it a competitive advantage in the digital asset space because it can combine strong underwriting expertise with sophisticated data analytics and technical know-how. By partnering with Cymetrics it can also offer advanced cybersecurity capabilities to clients. OneDegree has leveraged these unique strengths, as well as its inter-disciplinary knowledge of blockchain technology, risk management and compliance, to optimize OneInfinity for the end-to-end providers of digital asset services.
Rated A+ by A.M. Best and Aa3 by Moody's, Munich Re is one of the leading reinsurers globally. It co-founded the Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative and recently started a project in order to seize the business potential of the strongly growing digital asset market. OneDegree is excited to have been selected by Munich Re as their digital asset partner, after passing the reinsurer's rigorous due diligence. Howden RE's Hong Kong team supported OneDegree to establish this important partnership.
Alvin Kwock, Co-Founder of OneDegree, said, "We are delighted to work closely with Munich Re to offer OneInfinity, a market-leading digital asset insurance product. Digital asset insurance is set to be the gold standard serving the Web3 community. Regulated insurance coverage is a strong signaling effect that supports
trust and credibility of the insured entities. OneDegree is privileged to be Asia's first insurer to contribute to the secure and compliant development of Web3."
Helen Ye, Chief Commercial Officer of OneDegree, said: "This partnership is a game changer. With Munich Re's support, OneInfinity offers much needed protection to the Web3 community. More importantly, both OneDegree and Munich Re have invested resources in building a digital asset native team and now we will join hands to deepen and broaden our understanding of the full spectrum of risks relating to end-to-end digital asset operations. We are confident that the partnership will contribute to establishing best practice in risk management for the digital asset industry. By doing so, we believe our product and technology offerings will be another step forward in enabling the fast-growing digital asset industry to unlock value and potential."
Becky Tam, General Manager of Digital Asset Insurance in OneDegree, said: "This is the insurance sector with one of the highest entry barriers because of the technical inter-disciplinary knowledge required. As a digital native insurer, OneDegree is uniquely placed to leverage such knowledge, as well as our insurance-based analytics capabilities, in creating this innovative product offering. We are thankful to all the industry players from the digital asset sector, blockchain service providers and cybersecurity experts to provide valuable advice for us in building the product. We are especially glad to partner with Munich Re to bring reinsurance capacity and expertise to answer the ever-growing demand."
Greg Barats, Senior Executive at Munich Re and President & CEO of HSB, a Munich Re Group company, said: "We are looking forward to teaming up with OneDegree as a key partner for our digital asset initiative. OneDegree is a digital native insurance player, that is part of an innovative group of tech companies. Accordingly, this partnership allows us to be optimally positioned to serve the important and expanding digital asset market."
About OneDegree Hong Kong Limited
OneDegree Hong Kong Limited ("OneDegree") was established in August 2016, with a mission to make insurance simpler, faster and better. We received a virtual insurer licence from the Hong Kong Insurance Authority in April 2020. We are now a multi-line digital insurance business, offering protection for pet, human medical, e-commerce and home insurance to individuals; as well as professional indemnity, D&O insurance, cyber security and digital asset coverage to businesses. OneDegree is backed by renowned investors including BitRock Capital, Sun Hung Kai & Co., AEF Greater Bay Area Fund, Cyberport Macro Fund, and Cathay Venture.
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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
