Insureblocks Blockchain & Smart Contracts In Insurance

Chris Ballinger is the CEO and founder of MOBI – the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative. MOBI is a non-profit smart mobility consortium working with forward thinking companies, governments, and NGOs to make mobility services more efficient, affordable, greener, safer, and less congested by promoting standards and accelerating the adoption of blockchain, distributed ledger, and related technologies in the mobility industry.   About Chris Ballinger Chris started out in monetary economics and worked briefly for the Council of Economic Advisors in the United States. Chris moved into Fintech in the early days of the derivates market. More recently he joined Toyota as the CFO of their financial service organisation, the same year that Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Whilst at Toyota he eventually went on to work at the Toyota Research Institute, which is Toyota’s arm in Silicon Valley that does the development of autonomous vehicles and robotics and AI. Whilst he was there, Chris developed his thinking on new mo

Mance Harmon, CEO of Hedera Hashgraph has returned to Insureblocks to discuss the exciting news of Google joining the Hedera Hashgraph Governing Council. We also discussed the addition of Hedera’s new service entitled, Hedera Consensus Service, which brings interesting opportunities for enterprise blockchain platforms such as Hyperledger and Corda to embrace the opportunity to create verifiable timestamps and ordering of events to a public level trust.   What is blockchain and what is hashgraph? Blockchain as a term refers to two things: A data structure which is a chain of blocks of transactions A consensus algorithm that enables a community of participants, each of which holds a local copy of that chain of blocks to come to an agreement or consensus on which block to put next on the top of that chain in order for everyone to keep a consistent chain of blocks Unfortunately such a blockchain is designed to be slow for a number of reasons: Proof of work, the use of a really hard cryptographic puzzle,

In this exciting podcast we get to hear about how blockchain is used to track the coronavirus. We had the pleasure of having Jim Nasr, CEO of Acoer, developers of the blockchain coronavirus tracker, talk to us about the challenges the healthcare industry faces and opportunities for innovating it.   What is blockchain? Jim looks at blockchain in terms of three pillars: Technology Token economics Distributed computing The first pillar is with technology of distributed ledgers themselves. The second pillar is with regards to the value creation attribution specifically to public blockchains. This is where blockchain provides a reward in a public setting in a transparent manner for the creation of value. In the Bitcoin network for example miners are rewarded with 12.5 Bitcoins for completing a mathematical challenge for which they would have used electricity and processing power. The third pillar is regarding distributed architecture and distributed computer. For Jim this is fundamentally a question of

This week we’re joined by the CEO of Vinturas, Jon Kuiper. Jon was the former head of Koopman Logistics Group and has years of experience as a senior executive and a CEO in the Finished Vehicle Logistics (FVL) industry. He joins us to talk about how Vinturas is using blockchain technology to revolutionise the FVL industry.   What is blockchain? Jon Kuiper explains what blockchain technology means in the FVL industry. Blockchain technology or distributed ledger technology allows Vinturas to create an infrastructure which fosters collaboration between FVL companies and all other stakeholders in the ecosystem. This in depth collaboration allows for a single source of truth amongst all players in the FVL ecosystem, which in turn can bring huge benefits for all network participants.   The finished vehicle logistics industry According to The Association of European Vehicle Logistics, Finished Vehicle Logistics (FVL) are the activities that take place after a new vehicle leaves the factory until the point when it

In this exciting podcast, we are joined by Bruce Pon, co-founder of Ocean Protocol, to discuss how to monetize and tokenize data. Almost 6 years ago Bruce and Trent McConaghy, previously on Insureblocks regarding “The Data Economy”, got into the blockchain space by seeing how the concept of Bitcoin could be applied into non-financial use cases like data.   What is blockchain? Bruce, refers to blockchain as a general purpose technology. He states there are only about 30 to 35 general purpose technologies that have ever been discovered on Earth, by humankind. You start off with agriculture such as the domestication of plants and animals to the steam engine of the industrial revolution to electricity and railways to the last century. In this decade we’re going to see things like AI, blockchain, bioengineering infuse themselves across the entire world. At the highest level, blockchain is one of those fancy technologies that is going to change the world over the next 30 years. At a more in-depth technical level

The City of Dublin, Ohio, USA, is a city of 50,000 residents. Under the leadership of its Chief Information Officer, Doug McCollough it has been one of the first to launch a publicly owned fibre optic networks and also a digital identity project built on the blockchain. Join us in this exciting podcast to hear how Doug is ensuring that the City of Dublin not only doesn’t get disrupted but is also at the vanguard of innovation. Dublin is a small city, really a suburb on the northwest corner of Columbus, Ohio. Dough really loves municipalities and is into smart cities, smart mobility, blockchain and all kinds of emerging technology and how they can help public sector organisations.   What is blockchain? Blockchain is a technology, infrastructure or innovation that combines existing technologies like databases, peer to peer networks, encryption, distributed computing algorithms, to form a different way of distributing compute, data storage and data security. In its most basic form, it works by recording piece

For this week's episode, we’re once again connecting with Christopher G. McDaniel the President of The Institute RiskStream Collaborative. In this episode, Christopher gives us an insight into the concept called risk singularity. We discuss the 3 phases that he envisions will preclude the risk singularity and what it means for insurers.   https://youtu.be/WMqMUPkpVfM   What is blockchain? Christopher defines blockchain as a mechanism where information can be shared between different parties who without this mechanism wouldn’t normally trust each other. What this gives each of these parties is a trusted mechanism. Once widespread, they’ll be no need for information to travel back and forth between different parties. Through this mechanism, everybody in the network will now have the data ubiquitously. When this data no longer needs to be transacted between different parties continually it opens up new possibilities for insurers.   The Institute RiskStream Collaborative The Institute RiskStream Collaborati

Procure-to-Pay, in today’s supply chains, is a complicated and lengthy process for corporations and their suppliers across the world. Listen to Orapong Thien-Ngern, CEO of Digital Ventures a subsidiary of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) in Thailand, as he talks to us about how blockchain technology has reduced procure-to-pay process time by 50% and costs by 70% We had the pleasure of also being joined by Sharon Yuen, Head of ASEAN sales at R3 who manages the relationship with Digital Ventures. What is blockchain? For Sharon, blockchain is a technology that creates a decentralised records of all transactions in the network. Using blockchain technology, participants in the network can confirm transactions independently of a third party intermediary. There's no need for a central trust authority or a central server. From payments and audits to tracking inventory and assets, blockchain technology in supply chain can deliver a new level of trust and transparency, while enabling the procure to pay process to realise hu

Andrew Speers, Director of Product and Innovation at RBS, is passionate about user experience and developing customer centric propositions. In this podcast he discusses the important role blockchain can help as an enabler of other technologies to delivering great user experiences within the financial industry and beyond.   What is blockchain? Andrew recognises that there is no standardised definition to blockchain and his definition comes from as a business user instead of a technologist, engineer or coder. Blockchain is just a distributed ledger technology (DLT). That DLT sits on top of the internet. It is a network of nodes. A node has a unique identity and it stores data.   Applications are built on that network like apps in the app store. Nodes can participate in one or many apps, depending on the blockchain. Andrew reminds us of a few more truth regarding DLTs: Not every DLT needs a blockchain Not every DLT has a crypto asset or crypto currency attached to it Not every DLT   Disruption within

As smart contracts adoption on the blockchain continue to grow, ensuring end to end security is becoming more important. Oracles, trusted source of data, are increasingly seen as the weakest link in blockchain. In this podcast, Johann Eid, Product Manager and Developer Evangelist, at Chainlink  explains to us the role decentralised oracles can have in providing this end to end security.   What is blockchain? Blockchain is essentially a decentralised ledger. It is transparent and can be public in a similar manner as to Bitcoin. Decentralised, transparent and permissionless technology such as blockchain can have a tremendous impact in the way people interact between each other. Bitcoin was the first type of blockchain before it was followed up with Ethereum. With Ethereum you can develop applications on top of the blockchain thus enabling new ways for people to interact with each other.   What is a smart contract? Contracts are useful when two people who don’t necessarily trust each other want to interact wit

Turlough O’Brien is Head of IT at Aviva Commercial and Aviva UK Blockchain advocate. In this podcast we discuss Aviva’s perspective and lessons learnt with blockchain technology. Aviva is the largest insurer in the UK. It’s a composite that spans right away from car insurance through to equity release products.   What is blockchain? Turlough defines blockchain as a mechanism for creating trust between peers in a distributed manner as opposed to today’s existing centralized trust models. From a technical perspective blockchain is a ledger of blocks. A block is comparable to a digital fingerprint or a unique representation of a piece of data, often a transaction. Once a new block is validated, it is then added to the ledger and cryptographically linked to the previous block. This creates the chain, which is then propagated across the network. This ensures that everyone on the network has confidence in the integrity of the chain.   Aviva and blockchain sAviva Ventures do a lot in terms of investing in start-up

In this podcast we look at the amazing opportunity reforming contracts with self-executing contracts can have on insurance, distributed ledgers and beyond. To take us through this journey we are joined by Rory Unsworth, who until recently was Swiss Re’s Director at Smart Contracts Counsel. Rory has a background as a UK lawyer with a focus on insurance litigation civil law. In recent years he pivoted towards legal engineering as it is more fun than traditional legal practice because it is about solving new challenges, working in teams and delivering projects. A legal engineer is someone who helps to change legal processes by leveraging and creating adoption. Both of those things, leveraging and creating adoption are tools, based on all types of technology, from text mining to blockchain, AI, semantic, whose purpose is to support lawyers and experts. During his stay at Swiss Re, Rory had the chance to re-engineer the way Swiss Re works around its contracts and manages contract risk. He has now recently left

David Katz, is the CEO and founder of the Plastic Bank, a unique organisation that is using blockchain technology for social good. They make plastic waste a currency to fight ocean plastic and poverty. Listen to David as he explains to us how he transforms plastic waste into a unit of positive value that large brands are willing to pay for. Leading not just to the removal of plastic from entering the oceans but also providing a path to financial inclusion for some of the poorest communities around the world.   What is blockchain? For David, blockchain is really a database that allows him to understand who has been contributing or changing data. Blockchain is a technology that enables true authenticity. It enables for value (money or good quality recycled plastic) to be transformed between corporates and into the hands of the poor in emerging countries without the need of intermediaries such as government or the risk of it being hijacked by malicious parties such as the mafia. Plastic Bank corporate customers

John Reynolds is the CEO and founder of Coadjute. John has a background in enterprise technology and helping organisations optimize internally. In this podcast he talks to us about the exciting blockchain opportunity they've unlocked in the real estate and construction industry which is worth $10 trillion globally!   What is blockchain? John perspective on blockchain is from a workflow and synchronization angel. Blockchain enables different companies to work together by keeping their different databases to stay synchronized, thus enabling everyone to have the same version of the truth. Coadjute looks at blockchain as an inter-organizational workflow that allows organisations to stay in sync.   Property marketplaces around the world are broken In April 2019, John wrote an article entitled “Transforming the Real Estate Value Chain: Collaborative Innovation and Co-Operative Delivery”. In the article he states “Property marketplaces around the world are broken. It is slow, complex, confusing and costly to buy a

Atlas Insurance is the first European insurer to convert to a protected cell company. In this podcast, Ian-Edward Stafrace, Chief Strategy Officer at Atlas Insurance in Malta, talked to us about the advantages an insurance cell can provide to Insurtechs to rapidly innovate within the insurance industry by effectively becoming an insurance carrier themselves without all of the overheads and capital requirements. Etherisc, the blockchain insurtech company, used Atlas’s platform to rapidly prototype their flight delay insurance product.   About Ian-Edward Stafrace & Atlas Ian joined Atlas back in 2000 as a commercial underwriter. He rapidly got enamored by insurance by its logical approach since Ian has a technology background. Atlas is one of the leading insurance players in Malta and is structured as a protective cell company. Ian’s role evolved becoming a business intelligence analyst, a risk manager, a compliance officer, a data protection officer, to now as the Chief Strategy Officer. In 2006 Atlas convert

Raghavendra Kulkarni, is responsible for developing new Innovation Strategies and Business Ecosystems at Bosch. In this podcast we discuss not just internet of things (IoT) but also the concept of Economy of Things and how blockchain is an enabler for combining IoT devices to business models.   What is blockchain? How we perceive Blockchain within Bosch. Three aspects to blockchain: Decentralisation Immutability Exchange of consensus - collaboration Web 2.0 has created centralised platform monopolies. Internet of things (IoT) coupled with a decentralised ledger operates well within a decentralised ecosystem. The second aspect is immutability where you can have an immutable trail of an identity or of data. The third aspect is where you have consensus which is driven by collaboration. In principle what Bosch believes in is blockchain as a technology which will enable decentralised algorithmic consensus in the context of things.   What is Internet of Things (IoT)? Raghavendra looks at Maslow’s Hierarch

Addenda is the first insurance blockchain solution we have recently covered on Insureblocks from the Middle East.. For this podcast we were joined by Walid Daniel Dib CEO and co-founder of Addenda, the blockchain for insurance subrogation ecosystem in the UAE. In September 2018 Walid and his co-founders registered the company in the UAE and in the Dubai International Financial Centre (IFC). They set out to build a few prototype which didn’t quite work including a life insurance solution that was more of a solution looking for a problem. However as Walid puts it, they “struck gold” with the motor insurance subrogation solution that they’re currently working on.   What is blockchain? Blockchain is essentially a decentralised network. Where information that's shared between two participants is also shared across the board and everybody else in the room. Depending on whether it's a private blockchain or a public blockchain, that data could be encrypted, and or shared with others without them knowing the content

The GovChain Project is a wonderful project that aims to paint an accurate picture of the state of implementation and regulatory treatment of blockchain by the public sector around the world. Using a traffic light rating system, the report provides a rough guide to the varying levels of blockchain adoption across the targeted jurisdictions, identifying emerging patterns and trends. We had the pleasure of interviewing two of the co-founders of this project: Lucie Munier is the co-founder and lead project manager at the GovChain project. She has worked in the blockchain space for over two years now and was formerly working at Qadre, the main sponsors of this project. She is now manager of the Sharing Economy UK. Lavan Thasarathakumar a former advisor at the European Parliament where Lavan specialised mainly on economic and military affairs and within that more specifically on emerging technology. Since August 2017, he set up Thasa Consulting which provides advisory services on emerging tech policy for gov

In this fascinating episode we are joined by Andy Martin,  Blockchain Business Design at IBM. For the last three years Andy has been working on how to create business case for blockchain networks. In this podcast he shares with us his deep wealth of experience in how to design effective blockchain business design. This is a must listen to anyone interested in establishing blockchain networks.   What is blockchain? In defining what is blockchain, Andy focuses on private permissioned blockchain whose initial opportunity is in optimising shared business to business processes. Up to now the approached businesses took was in having a central intermediary to act as a central database to smooth out that shared process. The challenge is that both the quantity and the value of data has been growing very rapidly, leading to reluctance in businesses to share that data to a central intermediary. Blockchain gives us a super elegant approach to sharing this process across the members of an ecosystem in such a way that no

John Carolin is B3i's new CEO. In this new podcast we had a very honest and open discussion about John's journey to B3i and his assessment of what the company got right, its business model and how they can better engage with brokers. We also discussed the very exciting announcement of the Cat XoL product deployed to customers’ production environments.   John Carolin, B3i’s new CEO John is a chartered accountant and chartered financial analyst by training. He started off working at PWC in the insurance industry. However, John always had a desire to be a maker of things which is why he founded a number of businesses in South Africa including a small venture capital firm, a retail property asset management company and a B2B platform for traditional media and online broadcasters. John moved to Zurich with his young family to join Antony Elliott at Zurich whom he had worked with 15 years ago. Antony, at that time, was Zurich’s B3i representative and knew of John’s journey and invited him to join B3i to help Zuri