Inclusive Insurance? Businesses See Blockchain As Change-Enabler

The concept of microinsurance is getting a shot in the arm from new technologies, not least among them blockchain.

While specialist groups like Microinsurance Network have been touting blockchain's potential for a couple years, there is now a steady groundswell of startups such as Etherisc and InsurePal looking at combining microinsurance and blockchain.

The potential is also reaching beyond the world of insurtech, with even large insurance companies like Zurich and Axa experimenting with blockchain for this type of coverage.

Just last week, Etherisc illustrated how blockchain could help bring efficiencies and lower costs of this type of insurance by introducing weather damage coverage for hurricane-battered Puerto Rico.

Etherisc's platform locks up premiums in smart contracts on the public ethereum blockchain.

Zurich Insurance Group recently revealed a prototype of microinsurance crop insurance on ethereum.

Again, the key is having an external data source that would ping the blockchain in the event of payout-triggering events.

Apart from streamlining processes and cutting costs, what really gets some people excited about blockchain in microinsurance is its potential to foster peer-to-peer mutuality - simply put, allowing individuals to take on risks that are currently the preserve of large insurance firms.

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