Making Markets
Episode 64 Insurance for the Crypto Era
Making Markets

Episode 64: Insurance for the Crypto Era

Making Markets

Episode 64

Insurance for the Crypto Era

Zac Townsend is the co-founder and CEO of Meanwhile. We cover what makes insurance structurally hard to change, how Bitcoin opens up new design space, and how Meanwhile turns compliance into competitive edge.

Show Notes

(00:00:00) Welcome to Making Markets

(00:01:20) Understanding Term Life Insurance

(00:03:22) Exploring Whole Life Insurance

(00:05:00) The Principal-Agent Problem in Insurance

(00:07:59) Investment Strategies and Tax Implications

(00:13:46) Challenges in the Insurance Industry

(00:17:59) Founding an Insurance Startup

(00:25:22) Bitcoin and Life Insurance

(00:42:14) Future of Bitcoin and Insurance

(00:44:50) Final Thoughts

Insurance for the Crypto Era

Introduction

Eric
My guest today is Zac Townsend, co-founder and CEO of Meanwhile. Insurance is a product nearly everyone touches but few understand, and even fewer try to reinvent. Meanwhile is doing just that, building a fully licensed life insurance carrier that holds its reserves in Bitcoin. In this conversation, we talk about what makes insurance structurally hard to change, how Bitcoin opens up a new design space, and why innovation here demands control over product, capital, and regulation all at once. Please enjoy this conversation with Zac Townsend.

Insurance 101

Eric
So, Zac, this is going to be an interesting topic because it's actually something I was chatting with a young colleague about last night, which was life insurance. So for people that have kids or they're thinking about their life, I feel it's this topic that a lot of people don't want to think about, but they know they should think about. And so I thought a fun place to start because it's just a confusing topic that when people dive into this, they suddenly have to become experts in a very complex field—when I think about getting life insurance, I think of two basic words that are thrown around. There's term life and then there's whole life.

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