The price of Bitcoin is displayed on a screen at the lounge of Upbit in southern Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

Non-life insurers have been rushing to release products for virtual asset service providers ahead of the introduction of the Virtual Asset Users Protection Act, set to take effect on Friday.

The law, aimed at implementing toughened rules against illegal transactions involving virtual assets, requires virtual asset businesses to take measures such as purchasing insurance or accumulating reserves in accordance with the guidelines determined by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), to fulfill their liabilities and obligations in the event of accidents such as cyberattack or equipment failure.

In accordance with the law, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance released the relevant product on July 12, becoming the first insurer to do so. Beeblock, a minor crypto exchange, became its first policyholder.

The contract is for one year and is renewed annually.

KB Insurance followed suit by releasing its product on Wednesday, and other insurers, including Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance and NongHyup Property & Casualty Insurance, are also working to release theirs in time for the introduction of the new law.

As there have been no particular virtual asset-related packages in the domestic insurance market, insurers were short on relevant statistics and data, such as accident occurrence 한국을 probability, which is necessary to develop their product. This led them to work with the Korean Reinsurance Company (Korean Re) to develop the product and set insurance premium rates.

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