Customers of auto insurance company Metromile will soon be able to pay premiums and accept claim payments in bitcoin.
- Nasdaq-listed Metromile (MILE, MILEW) will be the first insurance company to offer both crypto services, the firm said in an announcement Thursday.
- The San Francisco-based startup, which offers pay-per-mile auto insurance, will purchase $10 million worth of bitcoin in Q2 2021 to offer policyholders as an option for payment of claims.
- Metromile said this would promote “financial resilience” as cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream and forms a more significant portion of consumers’ assets.
- The Swiss arm of insurance giant AXA announced in April that it would be giving customers the option to pay premiums in bitcoin.
- However, it stressed that bitcoin received would not be carried on the firm’s balance sheet, but converted into fiat through broker Bitcoin Suisse.