{"id":25293,"date":"2026-01-13T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokernews.ch\/?p=25293"},"modified":"2026-01-12T16:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:28:42","slug":"tuesday-column-by-eric-lefebvre-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokernews.ch\/en\/tuesday-column-by-eric-lefebvre-bitcoin\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Column by Eric Lefebvre: When the Unit of Account is Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tuesday column by Eric Lefebvre: When the unit of account is called Bitcoin.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I Thought \u201cLife Insurance in Bitcoin\u201d Was Just a Thought Experiment<\/strong>. Then I Realized It Already Exists. So, What About Europe?<\/strong> Let me tell you how this idea entered my head. I was thinking about life insurance in the usual way. Boring, necessary, adult. Then another thought showed up: If I can hold wealth in Bitcoin, why is life insurance still entirely stuck in fiat?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiat here meaning government issued currency such as euros, dollars or Swiss Franc. You are probably objecting already. I did too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You:<\/strong> Life insurance in Bitcoin? That cannot work. Volatility alone kills it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me:<\/strong> That was my first reaction as well. Volatility. Hedging. Immediate headache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I paused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait a minute. Why am I assuming the policy itself must be in dollars or Swiss Francs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mistake almost everyone makes<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The usual mental model looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Premiums in fiat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Benefits in fiat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitcoin somewhere in the background as an investment exposure<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then everyone panics because they are trying to protect a fiat promise with a non fiat asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that panic comes from one unchallenged assumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That the unit of account must be fiat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if it does not have to be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens when everything is in Bitcoin?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

So, I tried a different framing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Premiums paid in BTC (Bitcoin, the digital asset and payment network).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Benefits paid in BTC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Reserves held in BTC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Balance sheet measured in BTC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not Bitcoin as an investment sleeve. Bitcoin as the currency of the contract itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If everything is denominated in Bitcoin, then internally one Bitcoin is always one Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volatility still exists relative to fiat currencies, yes. Inside the system, the numbers add up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the realization<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

This is not theoretical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is already a licensed and regulated insurer doing exactly this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company is Meanwhile<\/a>, a life insurance carrier regulated in Bermuda by the BMA (Bermuda Monetary Authority, the financial and insurance regulator of Bermuda).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the moment where the idea stops being a clever mental exercise and becomes a real category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What this company actually does<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The description is almost aggressively simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a basic limited pay whole life insurance policy. Replace the word dollars with Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a DeFi product (decentralized finance, meaning blockchain based financial services that operate without regulated intermediaries such as banks or insurers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a traditional insurance contract issued by a licensed carrier, subject to solvency rules, capital requirements, audits, and regulatory supervision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mechanics are old. The unit of account is new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why this matter<\/strong>s<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Bitcoin holders today face two structural frictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most financial products remain denominated in fiat. Selling Bitcoin to access them often triggers capital gains taxes and ends exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Bitcoin native policy changes that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 You do not sell Bitcoin to obtain cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Policy values grow in Bitcoin terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Death benefits are paid in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Loans can be taken against the policy without liquidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is designed for long term holders, not for short term liquidity needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solvency, reserves, and why this is not a toy<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Life insurance is not about innovation. It is about trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That trust is built through solvency, meaning the insurer\u2019s ability to meet all future obligations to policyholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile operates under a full insurance license and is subject to strict capital reserve requirements. Capital reserves are regulatory buffers held by the insurer to absorb losses before policyholder assets are affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Losses are absorbed first by shareholder capital. If solvency ratios fall below regulatory thresholds, the regulator can intervene early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also publishes externally audited financial statements denominated entirely in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows that assets, liabilities, reserves, and solvency ratios can be expressed coherently in Bitcoin without translating everything back into fiat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how insurance earns credibility. Not through narratives, but through capital discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real operational friction<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

If premiums and benefits are in Bitcoin, volatility is not the daily operational risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The friction is mundane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Administration<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Compliance<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Audit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Payroll<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Vendors<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Distribution<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real world still invoices in fiat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution is operational, not ideological.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A conservative expense layer funded via stablecoins. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value, usually pegged to fiat currencies such as the US dollar, the euro or our beloved Swiss Franc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitcoin remains the reserve and the asset. Stablecoins handle day to day operating costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stablecoins are plumbing. Bitcoin is the structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the real question shifts to Europe<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Once you accept that this works in practice, the interesting question is no longer technical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It becomes geographic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there demand for this in Europe? And should we build one in Switzerland?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Europe has a large population of Bitcoin holders, entrepreneurs, and high net worth individuals who already think in terms of long-term wealth preservation and estate planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estate planning meaning the legal and financial arrangements used to transfer wealth upon death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Switzerland in particular has three advantages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 A mature insurance regulatory framework<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Deep experience with private wealth and cross border structures<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Increasing regulatory clarity around digital assets<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Europe does not yet have is a Bitcoin native life insurance carrier built under Swiss or European prudential rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gap is visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where this leaves us<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

I started with a naive question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would life insurance even work in Bitcoin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ended up somewhere more precise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want death cover with benefits paid in Bitcoin, you do not solve it with hedging. You solve it with denomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Assets in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Liabilities in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Premiums in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Claims in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Expenses handled conservatively alongside the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now the most interesting question is not whether this is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It clearly is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is whether Europe is ready for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And whether Switzerland should be the place where the next one is built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric Lefebvre<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read also: Behind the scenes of the insurance world: A conversation with Eric Lefebvre<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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