Chain of a Lifetime Notes

These are my rough notes on “Chain Of A Lifetime: How Blockchain Technology Might Transform Personal Insurance” by Michael Mainelli and Chiara von Gunten at Long Finance. They reflect my personal beliefs and interests of Bitcoin and blockchain technology as related to Insurance.

“Blockchain-based apps could support the automation of insurance products based on betting-like insurance products & financial derivative contracts”

“Crop insurance could be automated through a smart contract hosted on a blockchain protocol & using an oracle, such as a trusted weather feed”

The four themes

There are four themes of insurance that a blockchain would have great effect upon:

 THEME              RELEVANT BLOCKCHAIN COMPONENT
 ----------         --------------------------------------
1. Identity  <----> Authentication
2. Space     <----> Transactions
3. Time      <----> Debts
4. Mutuality <----> Communities

Identity

“What if you had a portable, secure globally available store of personal information… that could be shared partially to trusted third parties for things like health insurance claims or rental car quotes…”

  • blockchain tech could be used to manage identities & personal information
    • personal data storage & management
    • permission frameworks for access
    • distributed reputation ratings
  • trusted third parties who store & manage identities & personal info could be less necessary, if at all
  • blockchain tech could reduce identity & claim fraud, increase confidence in products & lower rates
  • the concept of “never losing data” could fundamentally change society

Space

“What if the importance of regulatory boundaries diminished?” “…insurance coverage could be adjusted across space almost instantaneously while catering to ‘local’ needs”

“Could support the tailoring of insurance products by expanding the range of products across places & by enabling nearly instantaneous adjustments of insurance coverage & pricing across space & time”

Time

“What if when someone dies & the coroner verifies death * the cause of death to their blockchain, their last will & testament is released publicly, their health records are donated to medical research charities & their life insurance policy pays out automatically”

  • Blockchain tech could shorten time perception through the tailoring of insurance products across space & time: perhaps specific covereage for the days a person uses their car as a taxi (Uber) or their home a hotel (Airbnb) can be accounted for in their policies.
  • Imagine if you could quickly add theft and damage insurance to your car for the day because you had to drive to a high-crime area.

Mutuality

“An extensive family in India might provide mutual health insurance to each other, backing it up w/ a combination of recipricol arrangements w/ uncorrelated UK village health schemes”

“Unemployment insurance could gbe merged w/ educational loans & deals struck over a lifetime…”

  • insurers’ role could shift over time towards expert advice provision & management of pooling mechanisms

Coding

Bitcoin