Zac Townsend

Work

I'm Zac Townsend (Zachary Townsend), co-founder and CEO of Meanwhile, a Bermuda-licensed life insurer built around Bitcoin.

Before Meanwhile, I worked in McKinsey & Company's financial services practice, served as California's first Chief Data Officer and a technology adviser to Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and co-founded Standard Treasury, a banking API company acquired by Silicon Valley Bank.

I write about insurance, finance, technology, and public policy. My blog, published articles, interviews, and press coverage are linked below.

Recent

• Insurtech's next phase runs through Bermuda — Bermuda Re, August 10, 2026.
• Crypto for Advisors: Bitcoin: planning for inheritance — CoinDesk, June 25, 2026.
• 2025: Letter from the CEO — Meanwhile, published April 2026.
• Building for the Meanwhile: Zac Townsend — Basic Capital, December 8, 2025.
• Now and Meanwhile: Two Worlds of Finance — October 29, 2025.

Podcasts and video

• The Bitcoin Strategy Rich Families Are Quietly Using
  The Mark Moss Show, June 13, 2026.
• Building Bitcoin Wealth Through Trusts, Insurance & Inheritance
  Bitcoin 2026 conference panel, April 29, 2026.
• Zac Townsend, CEO at Meanwhile — PIR Ep. 767
  Profiles in Risk, November 18, 2025.
• Reimagining Long-Term Financial Planning with Bitcoin & Life Insurance
  InsureTech Connect Vegas keynote, October 15, 2025. (Program listing.)
• Bitcoin Meets Life Insurance: Zac Townsend on Generational Wealth & BTC Legacy
  The Modern Insurance Agent, September 11, 2025.
• Zac Townsend: Insurance for the Crypto Era
  Making Markets, August 1, 2025.
• Why Bitcoin Life Insurance Might Be the Next Big Thing
  The Crypto Mavericks, July 31, 2025. (Apple, Spotify, Ivoox)
• Meanwhile - Bitcoin Life Insurance
  Brave New Coin, July 31, 2025.
• Zac Townsend (Meanwhile) on Bitcoin Life Insurance
  On The Brink with Castle Island, July 21, 2025. (Podbean, Listen Notes, Player FM)
• Zac Townsend & Carsten Ragborg: Bitcoin Life Insurance | TRP #145
  The Reinsurance Podcast, July 21, 2025. (Apple, Spotify, Poddtoppen)
• Meanwhile CEO: Bitcoin Drives Innovation, New Opportunities in Life Insurance Market
  AM Best, July 15, 2025. (Apple, Spotify)
• The Bitcoin Insurance Revolution: Insights from Meanwhile's Co-Founder Zac Townsend
  Build With Bitcoin, July 9, 2025. (Apple, Spotify)
• Zac Townsend, CEO of Meanwhile, on Bitcoin Life Insurance and The Future of Bitcoin Finance
  Cryptonews Spotlight, June 10, 2025. (Apple, Website)
• How Bitcoin is Disrupting Traditional Financial Products with Zac Townsend | SLP662
  Stephan Livera, May 19, 2025. (Apple, Podbay)
• How Smart Bitcoin Investors Pay Less Tax & Never Sell w/ Zac Townsend
  Milk Road, May 13, 2025. (Podchaser)
• Life insurance and your money, with Zac Townsend
  Complex Systems Podcast, May 8th, 2025. (Apple, Spotify)
• Bitcoin Life Insurance? How Zac Townsend and Meanwhile Are Rebuilding a $1T Industry
  Entrepreneur Perspectives, May 8, 2025. (Apple, Spotify, Website)
• Why Most People Will Lose Their Bitcoin When They Die | Zac Townsend
  The Mark Moss Show, March 19, 2025. (Apple, Spotify, Omny)
• Meanwhile's CEO Zac Townsend on the world's first Bitcoin life insurance company
  Smart Humans, Vincent Private Markets, January 19, 2025. (Apple, Spotify, Website, Transcript).
• Here's how Meanwhile is trying to unleash the multitrillion dollar insurance industry onto bitcoin
  The Scoop, The Block, December 19, 2024. (Article)
• Transforming Insurance with Bitcoin: A Conversation with Zac Townsend, CEO of Meanwhile
  The Leadership in Insurance Podcast - Insurtech & Innovation, October 28, 2024.
• Life Insurance On A Bitcoin Standard with Zac Townsend
  What is Money?, August 13, 2024. (Also a podcast)
• Bitcoin Life Insurance Is Coming Fast!
  Pomp Podcast, April 22, 2024. (Also a podcast)
• Life Insurance for the Bitcoin Economy with Meanwhile's Zac Townsend
  Infinite Frontiers, February 29, 2024.
• Bitcoin backed insurance? Zac Townsend CEO of Meanwhile is making it happen
  The Insurance Podcast, Feb 20, 2024.
• Bitcoin Life Insurance with Zac Townsend
  Stephan Livera Podcast, January 31, 2024.
• Zac Townsend Interview - Building a Bitcoin Life Insurance Product
  Thinking Crypto, December 19, 2023.
• Life Bitcoin Insurance and AI Mapping with Zac Townsend and Ali Husain
  The Charlie Shrem Show, December 12, 2023.
• Life Insurance, Now In Bitcoin with Zac Townsend (Meanwhile) -
  WAGMI Ventures Podcast, December 7, 2023.
• Bitcoin pops above $30,000 as WisdomTree and Invesco join the bitcoin ETF rush:
  CNBC Crypto World, June 21, 2023.
• Meanwhile CEO on Future of Bitcoin Life Insurance
  Coindesk TV, June 9, 2023.

Press

Articles, profiles, and interviews that mention me by name.

Profiles and interviews

• Insurer touts how it sought rigour of Bermuda regulators
  The Royal Gazette, March 18, 2026.
• Building for the Meanwhile: Zac Townsend
  Basic Capital, December 8, 2025.
• FinTech CEO Interview: Zac Townsend
  FT Partners, June 1, 2025. (PDF.)
• Meanwhile Bets on Bitcoin to Reinvent Life Insurance
  Insurance Innovation Reporter, April 25, 2025.

October 2025: $82 million raise

• Bitcoin Life Insurer Meanwhile Raises $82 Million
  Bloomberg News, October 7, 2025.
• Bitcoin life insurer Meanwhile raises $82 million in new funding to expand operations
  The Block, October 7, 2025.
• Bitcoin insurer Meanwhile secures $82M to expand BTC products
  Cointelegraph, October 7, 2025.
• Bitcoin Life Insurer Meanwhile Raises $82M to Scale Savings, Retirement in BTC
  CoinDesk, October 7, 2025.
• Meanwhile raises $82 million to expand Bitcoin life insurance
  Blockworks, October 7, 2025.
• Meanwhile Raises $82 Million for Bitcoin Life Insurance Expansion
  Insurance Innovation Reporter, October 7, 2025.
• Bitcoin Life Insurer Meanwhile Raises $82 Million
  Bitcoin Magazine, October 7, 2025.
• Meanwhile Secures $82 Million to Expand Bitcoin-Denominated Life Insurance
  Bitcoin.com, October 7, 2025.
• Meanwhile raises $82 million
  Coverager, October 7, 2025.
• Bermuda-Regulated Bitcoin Life Insurance Company Meanwhile Raises $82M
  Bankless, October 7, 2025.
• Meanwhile Raises $82M to Scale Regulated Bitcoin Life Insurer
  Cryptonews, October 7, 2025.
• Meanwhile Secures $82M to Advance Bitcoin Life Insurance Model
  The Crypto Times, October 7, 2025.
• Meanwhile, Bitcoin Life Insurer Raises $82M to Expand Savings
  Ventureburn, October 7, 2025.
• First Regulated Bitcoin Insurer Secures $82M in New Funding
  TechNews180, October 7, 2025.
• Bitcoin Life Insurance Company Meanwhile Lands $82M as Crypto Savings Demand Soars
  CoinCentral, October 8, 2025.
• AI Insurance Is Expensive
  Bloomberg Opinion / Money Stuff, October 8, 2025. (Discusses the raise.)
• Meanwhile's latest capital raise of $82m lifts 2025 total to $122m
  Bermuda Re, October 9, 2025.
• Meanwhile secures $82m to meet growing demand of bitcoin-denominated life insurance
  Reinsurance News, October 10, 2025.
• Bitcoin life insurer Meanwhile secures $82m to expand BTC savings and annuities
  Beinsure, October 10, 2025.
• Entrepreneur calls Bermuda market 'innovative for hundreds of years'
  The Royal Gazette, October 13, 2025.
• Bain Capital, Apollo pile in as crypto companies raise $2.5bn in October
  DL News, October 2025. (Funding roundup.)
• Meanwhile: la primera aseguradora de vida denominada en Bitcoin
  100% Seguro, October 28, 2025. (Spanish-language interview.)

June 2025: first audited Bitcoin financials

• Bitcoin Life Insurance Firm Meanwhile Shares First Audit
  CoinDesk, June 5, 2025.
• Bitcoin Life Insurer, Meanwhile, Becomes First Company to Publish Audited Financials Denominated in Bitcoin
  Bitcoin Magazine, June 5, 2025.

April 2025: $40 million Series A

• Meanwhile's $40M raise was Framework Ventures' 'largest equity investment'
  Blockworks, April 14, 2025.
• Bitcoin can help captives hedge inflation, says Meanwhile's CEO
  Captive Insurance Times, April 11, 2025.
• Bitcoin Life Insurance Firm Meanwhile Raises $40M to Expand Globally
  CoinDesk, April 10, 2025.
• Exclusive: Crypto startup Meanwhile raises $40 million
  Fortune, April 10, 2025.
• Bitcoin-denominated Meanwhile Raises $40M for BTC Life Insurance
  Insurance Innovation Reporter, April 10, 2025.
• Framework Ventures, Fulgur Ventures co-lead $40 million Series A for Meanwhile
  The Block, April 10, 2025.

2024: Bermuda insurance license

• Bermuda grants licence to bitcoin-only life insurer Meanwhile
  Captive Insurance Times, August 2024.
• Pioneering Meanwhile first to receive BMA's IILT licence
  The Royal Gazette, August 2024.
• BMA licenses Meanwhile as a digital life insurer
  Bermuda Re, August 2024.

2023: launch and early interviews

• Bitcoin life insurance company sees beauty in boring
  Axios, November 8, 2023.
• Life insurer with premiums paid in cryptocurrency
  The Royal Gazette, June 6, 2023.
• Bitcoin Life Insurance Startup Raises $19M in Seed Rounds
  Bitcoin.com, June 6, 2023.
• Sam Altman joins investors in $19 million round for crypto life insurance startup
  The Block, June 6, 2023.
• Meanwhile secures $19m in funding across two seed rounds
  Reinsurance News, June 6, 2023.
• Bitcoin-Denominated Life Insurance Provider Sets Up Shop With $19M Funding
  CoinDesk, June 6, 2023.
• Meanwhile Digital Asset-Denominated Life Launches with $19M Funding
  Insurance Innovation Reporter, June 6, 2023.
• The First-Ever Bitcoin-Denominated Life Insurer Embraces AI
  Tokenist, June 6, 2023.
• Meanwhile, a Bitcoin life insurer, raises $19 million at $100 million valuation
  Fortune, June 6, 2023.
• What the anti-mining bill means for the crypto industry in Texas
  Cointelegraph, May 30, 2023.

Public service coverage

• Report: What States Are the Best for Data Innovation?
  Government Technology, July 31, 2017.
• CalData Project Seeks to Improve Data Use Across State Agencies
  Government Technology, March 27, 2017.
• California to clean up messy open data with metadata
  StateScoop, 2017.
• California's Open Data Portal Goes Open Source for the Apps
  Route Fifty, September 1, 2016.
• This Week in Civic Tech: California Launches First True Open Data Portal
  Government Technology, September 1, 2016.
• California governor appoints permanent CIO, chief data officer
  StateScoop, July 1, 2016.
• Inaugural Chief Data Officer Appointed in California
  Government Technology, July 1, 2016.

Standard Treasury and earlier career

• Standard Treasury (YC S13) Joins Silicon Valley Bank
  Y Combinator, August 6, 2015.
• Silicon Valley Bank Eyes API-Based Banking
  PYMNTS, August 7, 2015.
• Silicon Valley Bank acqui-hires Y Combinator startup Standard Treasury
  Silicon Valley Business Journal, August 6, 2015.
• 30 Under 30: Enterprise Technology
  Forbes, 2015.
• 2014 Innovators to Watch: The Alphabetical List
  Bank Automation News, July 1, 2014.
• Top 8 Memes and Themes from Bank Innovation 2014
  Finovate, March 6, 2014.
• YC Startup Standard Treasury Plans To Make Millions
  Business Insider via Yahoo Finance, July 18, 2013.
• YC-Backed Standard Treasury Aims To Make Software That Eats Commercial Banking
  TechCrunch, July 9, 2013.

Writing

My writing has appeared in the Financial Times, Slate, the American Banker, San Francisco Chronicle, The Mercury News, San Francisco Examiner, TechCrunch, BankInnovation,Blockworks, CoinDesk and more:

• Insurtech's next phase runs through Bermuda
  Bermuda Re, August 10, 2026.
• Crypto for Advisors: Bitcoin: planning for inheritance
  CoinDesk, June 25, 2026.
• 2025: Letter from the CEO
  Meanwhile, published April 2026. (2025 reporting year.)
• Bitcoin Treasuries Aren't Arbitrage. They're the Next Endowments
  Institutional Investor, September 2, 2025.
• 2024: Letter from the CEO
  Meanwhile, 2024 reporting year.
• Crypto for Advisors: Bitcoin Inheritance Strategies
  CoinDesk, April 10, 2025.
• California doesn't need DOGE, but there's plenty of wasteful spending and bureaucracy to cut
  CalMatters, March 12, 2025.
• Why a U.S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Is Critical to Fending Off China
  Coindesk, December 31, 2024.
• Kamala Harris's Unrealized Capital Gains Tax Would Hurt All Crypto Investors
  Coindesk, October 2, 2024.
• Crypto investors must embrace new tax rules or risk falling behind
  Blockworks, July 24, 2024.
• Bitcoin's Future as Currency
  CoinDesk, April 1, 2024.
• How Clear and Effective Crypto Regulations are Born
  CoinDesk, October 16, 2023.
• Signals: The Silicon Valley Bank that never was
  This Week in Fintech, March 22, 2023.
• Bitcoin Beyond the Currency -- the Disruption of Industries
  Nasdaq, August 1, 2023.
• With so little data collected, SF can't be accountable on Prop. C spending ' or any other
  San Francisco Chronicle, November 8, 2018.
• Build a public bank in S.F.
  San Francisco Examiner, May 17, 2018.
• Vote your values with your dollars: Support an SF public bank
  San Francisco Chronicle, May 6, 2018.
• Fintech in the US is stymied by old-fashioned regulators
  Financial Times, April 16, 2018. (Read on my blog.)
• Analog Regulators Can't Keep Up With the Digital Age: To regulate new technologies like self-driving cars, we need new policymaking tools
  Slate, March 28, 2018.
• Regulators need to step up their game to stop tech-based discrimination
  American Banker, March 7, 2018.
• Financial technology matures as government steps in
  TechCrunch, June 19, 2016.
• Tech industry, regulators' relationship needs a reboot
  San Jose Mercury News, March 7, 2016.
• California should take its business to community banks
  San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday Insight section, February 14, 2016.
  (No paywall here on my blog).
• Why I'm Mentoring for America
  Code for America's Blogging for America, November 1, 2013.
• Ultimately, banks are "big data" and technology companies (letter to the editor)
  Financial Times, October 4, 2013 .
• Introducing the idea of an open-source suite for municipal governments
  Originally published by the Harvard Ash Center, December 5, 2012; archived on my blog.
• Fairness in Civic Technology and City Services
  Living Cities Blog, December 03, 2012.
• Dreaming Bigger in the Civic Technology Movement
  Living Cities Blog, August 06, 2012.
• The Other Open Source for the Civic Sector
  Google's Policy by the Numbers Blog, May 29, 2012.
• A Job Vital to the State's Poor Goes Unfilled
  Albany Times-Union, November 12, 2011.
• Townsend, Z., Buckley, S. P, Harada, M., Scott, M. A. "The Choice Between Fixed and Random Effects", in The SAGE Handbook of Multilevel Modeling, Scott, M.A., Simonoff, J. and Marx, B.D. (eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Selected essays from my blog:

• Now and Meanwhile: Two Worlds of Finance, October 29, 2025.
• Why Agentic AI Needs a Credit Infrastructure, Not Just a Payments Layer, July 5, 2025.
• Process vs data: who wins in the vertical AI race, May 7, 2025.
• Know Your Enemy: How Three Years at McKinsey Shaped My Second Startup, May 4, 2025.
• Idiot to insider: the basics of building a life insurer, December 11, 2024.
• The 100-Year Startup: Life insurance and abundance, December 4, 2024.
• Winning the AI application layer will require vertical business models, October 25, 2024.
• Empathy on entrance price: Bridge.xyz and Astranis, October 21, 2024.
• Digital Only: The Challengers Taking on Big Banking in the UK, April 18, 2018.
• Fintech in the US is stymied by old-fashioned regulators, April 2018. (Financial Times op-ed, republished on my blog.)
• Let's Get Organized and Fix Housing Affordability in San Francisco, April 11, 2016.
• Building a Fair and Functioning San Francisco Together, April 5, 2016.
• Broken Promises: The Housing Market in San Francisco (And Ten Ideas to Fix It), March 30, 2016.
• Does the California Fair Pay Act Go Far Enough?, March 15, 2016.
• California Should Take Its Business to Community Banks, February 2016. (San Francisco Chronicle op-ed, republished on my blog.)
• Analyzing Some (Miscited) Entrepreneurship Research, September 8, 2015.
• Standard Treasury Joins Silicon Valley Bank, August 6, 2015.
• What Business Is Square In Exactly?, July 29, 2015.
• Standard Treasury's Series A Pitch Deck, July 28, 2015.
• My Brief Time Fighting Human Trafficking, March 31, 2015.
• Standard Treasury as a Startup Bank, January 13, 2015.
• My Mental Health Story: Depression, Plagiarism, and Analysis, October 29, 2014.
• Losing 58.3 Lbs For Science, October 10, 2014.
• Building the Next Generation of Financial Infrastructure, August 28, 2014.
• Mental Health, Trauma, and Startup Founders, August 22, 2014.
• Founders and Mental Health, June 16, 2014.
• APIs, App Stores, and the Era of Mass Customization in Banking, April 21, 2014.
• Startup Banking's Looming Leviathan, April 16, 2014.
• Going Through Y Combinator (S13): Nine Lessons Learned, Mar 4, 2014.
  (Translated into Japanese)
• Five Lessons from Building A Great Core Team at Standard Treasury, Feb 25, 2014.
• Building A Founding Team at Standard Treasury, Feb 24, 2014.
• The Path Not Taken by Simple (Bank) to Remake Finance, Feb 20, 2014.
  (Republished at Bank Innovation)
• Giving Credit Card Processing Away, Nov 18, 2013.
• A (Successful) YC S13 Application, Oct 18, 2013.
• Advice on the YC Application, Oct 17, 2013.
• Getting in to YC, Oct 15, 2013.
• Why I Invest in Online-to-Offline Businesses, Oct 8, 2013.
• Ultimately, Banks are "Big Data" and Technology Companies, Oct 4, 2013.
  (Republished from the Financial Times)
• Credit Card Processing as a Commodity Business, Sep 27, 2013.
• Credit Card Processing is a Hard Business, Sep 26, 2013.

I have written for McKinsey & Company:

• Financial data unbound: The value of open data for individuals and institutions
  McKinsey Global Institute Article, June 24, 2021.
• Disrupting the disruptors: Business building for banks
  Financial Services Article, April 15, 2021.
• What the embedded-finance and banking-as-a-service trends mean for financial services
  Banking and Securities matters, March 1, 2021.
• COVID-19: Making the case for robust digital financial infrastructure
  McKinsey Global Institute Article, January 26, 2021.
• How US customers’ attitudes to fintech are shifting during the pandemic
  Financial Services Article, December 17, 2020.
• Ecosystem 2.0: Climbing to the next level
  McKinsey Quarterly, September 11, 2020.
• Seven ways for financial institutions to react to financial-technology companies
  Banking and Securities matters, July 27, 2020.
• The emerging era of PaaS: payments as a service
  Global Payments Report, September 2019.
• Scanning the fintech landscape: 10 disruptive models
  Banking and Securities matters, May 8, 2019.

Elsewhere

LinkedIn
X

Angel investment

I very, very rarely make angel investments (this is a comprehensive list):

• Bridge (acquired for $1.1B by Stripe)
• Astranis (last public valuation $1.6B)
• Camber (Series A & B by A16Z)
• Griffin Bank (Series A)
• Kettle (Series A by Acrew, Homebrew, True, etc)
• Compound (merger/acquisition after Series A by Greenoaks / Lachy)
• 1 dissolution

Google Scholar

Link to my Google Scholar page.