Meanwhile (Bitcoin Life Insurer)

Meanwhile was co-founded by Zac Townsend and Max Gasner, who both have backgrounds in fintech; Townsend serves as chief executive officer and Gasner as chief technology officer. The company was founded in 2021 and received its first funding round in January 2022; other accounts place the founders’ decision to start the company in 2020 or in late 2021.⁠[1][2][3][4][1][2]

Townsend described it as “a life insurance company for the crypto economy.” The company spent its first year obtaining a preliminary license through Bermuda’s innovation sandbox and another year building its infrastructure and designing its first product.⁠[1][2]

In May 2022, Jim Cristallo, a 20-year executive at New York Life, joined as chief insurance officer; in January 2023, Annie Tay, an actuarial and risk specialist who had worked at MetLife and A.M. Best, joined as chief risk officer.⁠[3]

The company announced that it had raised about $19 million across two seed rounds: the first was co-led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former Stripe Issuing head Lachy Groom, and the second was led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s venture fund. Mouro Capital, MS&AD, and Hudson Structured Capital Management participated, angel investors included Parker Conrad, Dylan Field, Nick Schrock, and Sam Blond of Founders Fund, and 6th Man Ventures also invested. Townsend said the financing valued the company at $100 million.⁠[5][5][1][5][6][1]

The company was formerly named Standard Crypto Insurance Bitcoin (Bermuda) Limited, under which it had received a sandbox license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority as an innovative insurer, and it was renamed Meanwhile Insurance Bitcoin (Bermuda) Limited at this point. Its first product was bitcoin-denominated whole life insurance, initially aimed at U.S. citizens with large bitcoin holdings who wanted to protect their families in a tax-advantaged way; the company planned to use artificial intelligence for underwriting, claims, and operations, and to use the funds to build a development team. It then had seven employees and was not registered as a life insurer in the United States; Townsend had bought one of the policies himself.⁠[5][5][7][7][6][1][1][1]

Townsend said that because the company collects premiums and pays claims in bitcoin, bitcoin price movements do not affect its underwriting or guarantees; the dollar value of a policy, however, changes with the bitcoin price, and policyholders bear that risk.⁠[7][7]

John Keddy, a senior principal at the consultancy Datos Group, raised concerns about a bitcoin-denominated balance sheet. He said insurers must hold reserve assets with different risk weights, and that if a company sold many life policies or annuities while holding reserves that were 100% bitcoin, most people would have many questions, because bitcoin would be rated a relatively high-risk asset class.⁠[3][3][3]

Townsend responded that the company is licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority to operate in bitcoin and spent about 18 months building a regulatory framework and obtaining approvals; he argued that denominating the entire business in bitcoin is itself a hedge against volatility, because reserves, capital, assets, and liabilities hold steady in the same unit.⁠[3][3][3]

In July 2024, after about 18 months in the regulatory sandbox, Meanwhile became a fully licensed long-term insurer and the first company to receive the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s Class IILT license, a license class the regulator introduced in 2022 for innovative business models such as insurers operating in digital assets. The operating subsidiary, Meanwhile Insurance Bitcoin (Bermuda) Ltd, carries out all of the group’s business, while the parent Meanwhile group is headquartered in Delaware.⁠[8][4][4][9][4][4]

To meet regulatory requirements equivalent to Solvency II, the company built governance, risk, and compliance operations, appointed reinsurance veteran Jason Carne, HSCM Bermuda executive Gokul Sudarsana, and Mythen Re chief executive Sandra DeSilva as independent non-executive directors, and created anti-money-laundering, counter-terrorist-financing, and know-your-customer procedures. Townsend said contracts written during the sandbox period stated that they might have to be canceled if a full license was not granted, and that the full license allowed the company to write long-term contracts and launch new products within its business plan.⁠[4][4][4][4][4]

At the time the company could sell only to “sophisticated customers,” and its target customers were high-net-worth individuals worldwide who believe bitcoin will be a long-term store of value; the group had eight staff, all working remotely except chief financial and operations officer Tia Beckmann, who was based in Bermuda.⁠[4][4][4]

Meanwhile published its 2024 financial statements, and Townsend wrote in his letter to policyholders and partners that the company had become the first bitcoin-denominated company to complete a statutory third-party audit. Because U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) cannot yet accommodate bitcoin-denominated reserves and cash flows, the statements were prepared under Bermuda Monetary Authority requirements: the auditors issued an unmodified opinion on the statutory basis and an adverse opinion when measured against U.S. GAAP. Townsend said this did not relate to the accuracy of the figures but to the difference in accounting frameworks, and that the company planned to produce GAAP-compliant statements within three years.⁠[8][8][8][8][8]

Meanwhile closed a $40 million Series A led by Framework Ventures and Fulgur Ventures, with participation from Wences Casares, founder of the crypto bank Xapo; Townsend said the round valued the company at $190 million. The funds were to accelerate its global rollout, focusing on regions with inflation and currency instability. By then the company had raised about $61 million in total.⁠[10][10][11][2]

Townsend explained that the company lends clients’ bitcoin to large financial institutions such as crypto exchanges and market makers for one to two years, expecting a return of about 3%, which is used to pay clients and cover expenses.⁠[10][10]

Meanwhile announced an $82 million round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and Haun Ventures, with Pantera Capital and additional participation from Apollo, Northwestern Mutual Future VenturesNorthwestern Mutual Future VenturesNorthwestern Mutual Future Ventures (NMFV) is the corporate venture capital arm of the U.S. life insurer Northwestern Mutual. Founded in 2017, it invests in startups in fintech, insurtech, digital health, data analytics, and related fields, and has set up three funds.Open the full entry, and Stillmark, bringing its total 2025 fundraising to $122 million. The funds were to expand global access, through institutional partners, to bitcoin-denominated life insurance, annuities, savings products, and insurance bonds.⁠[12][13][12]

Townsend said the company had become one of the world’s largest lenders of bitcoin at duration, that it does not run a hedge fund or trading desk or worry about bitcoin’s short-term price, and he declined to comment on its latest valuation. Haun Ventures partner Chris Ahn said that just as the U.S. economy was built on insurance, pensions, and mortgages, the bitcoin economy will need its own long-duration financial products.⁠[14][14][14][12][12]

In early 2026, Meanwhile launched BTC Life 1-Pay, a single-premium whole life policy for high-net-worth clients outside the United States: the policyholder pays one premium in bitcoin and receives a guaranteed lifetime death benefit in bitcoin, and after the first year can borrow up to 90% of the policy’s value with no repayment schedule and no margin calls. It is the company’s second product after BTC 10-Pay, which was designed for U.S. taxpayers, and policies can be held by individuals, trusts, or companies.⁠[15][15][15][16][17]

Audited figures released in April 2026 showed total assets of 1,183 bitcoin at the end of 2025, more than five times the level a year earlier, and statutory capital and surplus of 759 bitcoin. The audit opinions matched the previous year’s: unmodified on the statutory basis and adverse against U.S. GAAP; the auditors also noted that the Bermuda Monetary Authority had not yet formally finalized year-end reporting requirements for the Class IILT license class.⁠[15][15][18][18]

Meanwhile announced a $37.5 million round raised entirely from existing investors and led by Bain Capital Crypto, with participation from Haun Ventures, Framework Ventures, Pantera Capital, Apollo, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, and Morgan Creek DigitalMorgan Creek DigitalMorgan Creek Digital is the digital asset and technology investment business of the U.S. investment manager Morgan Creek Capital Management. Formed in 2018, it invests in early-stage companies and digital assets in blockchain, artificial intelligence, computing infrastructure, and big data.Open the full entry; its backers also include Sam Altman. Total funding exceeded $180 million, and no valuation for the round was disclosed.⁠[17][15][15][15][19]

The company said its net long-term underwriting income had already exceeded the previous year’s total and was on track to more than double in 2026, without giving a figure. Since launching BTC Life 1-Pay it had signed 15 brokers serving wealthy families in places including Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE, and Switzerland, among them Lioner, an insurance and wealth management group with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Zurich, and Apeiron Group, which runs a marketplace for high-net-worth life insurance. Bain Capital Crypto partner Stefan Cohen said Meanwhile owns every layer of a regulated life insurer and builds it like an AI-enabled startup.⁠[15][15][15][15][15]

The company does not self-custody the bitcoin backing its policies; all of it is held by two institutional custodians regulated by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) that segregate policyholder assets. It says its assets grew 5.4 times and its capital and surplus 6.2 times in 2025, that it reported net income in both 2024 and 2025, and that its auditor is HT Digital Ltd of London.⁠[20][20][20]

As of October 2026, the leadership team included chief executive officer Zac Townsend, chief operating officer Remy Carole, chief insurance officer Jim Cristallo, chief financial officer Tia Beckmann, chief compliance officer Alice Tregunna, and chief risk officer Carsten Ragborg; the company has offices in San Francisco and Hamilton, Bermuda. Townsend is also chief executive of Meanwhile Incorporated and chairman of the Bermuda insurance subsidiary.⁠[21][21][18]

Meanwhile: Official website: https://meanwhile.bm/ (opens in a new window).⁠[20]

X: Public account: https://x.com/meanwhile (opens in a new window)⁠[20][22]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/meanwhileinc (opens in a new window)⁠[20]