Harneys And dropRWA Plan Tokenized Catastrophe Bonds

A planned Bermuda issuance by law firm Harneys and tokenization platform dropRWA aims to put legal ownership of catastrophe bonds onchain in early 2027, according to CoinDesk. The initiative targets disaster risks that remain costly to insure, seeking to widen investor access through smaller ownership units while remaining subject to securities, insurance, and investor-protection rules.

Natural disasters caused $220 billion in economic losses last year, with insurance covering only $107 billion, leaving households, businesses, and governments to bear the rest. Meanwhile, the conventional catastrophe-bond market reached $65.6 billion in June, supported by record quarterly issuances as insurers increasingly transferred disaster risks to capital-market investors.

Market Context And Uninsured Losses

Despite growth in the catastrophe-bond sector, large parts of losses from floods, typhoons, and wildfires remain uninsured, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where 91% of disaster losses were uninsured in 2023, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Limited claims data and catastrophe models can complicate pricing for insurers and reinsurers in high-risk areas.

Conventional catastrophe-bond offerings have historically required minimum investments of $250,000 or more, limiting access largely to specialist funds and large institutions. The proposed issuance by Harneys and dropRWA explores a structure that could accommodate smaller beneficial interests.

Structural Design And Precedents

Henry Tucker, chief executive of specialist insurance group Hearns, stated in an interview with CoinDesk that a tokenized structure does not turn disaster coverage into a casual retail investment, as capital remains fully committed to cover defined insurance risks. Tucker noted that specialist underwriters could use tokenized structures to raise capital for single defined risks, such as flood cover and typhoon protection in Southeast Asia.

Real-world precedents include a $200 million hurricane coverage arrangement for Jamaica arranged by the World Bank in May, which replaced an earlier transaction that paid out after Hurricane Melissa in 2025. Jamaica's finance minister, Fayval Williams, called catastrophe bonds an important piece for the country's resilience strategy.

Key facts

• Harneys and dropRWA plan to issue tokenized catastrophe bonds in early 2027.
• Natural disasters caused $220 billion in economic losses last year, with insurance covering $107 billion.
• The catastrophe-bond market reached $65.6 billion outstanding in June.
• In the Asia-Pacific region, 91% of disaster losses in 2023 were uninsured according to the OECD.