Viewpoints | Difficult to Buy Insurance? Buying insurance in the blockchain era will be as easy as taxiing in the internet era

Editor's note: The original title was "Buying Insurance in the Blockchain Era is as Easy as Taking a Taxi in the Internet Era"

In my impression, if there is no explanation from the salesperson, buying insurance will be confused by a large pile of contract documents; and the insurance company's underwriting work is long and has many processes. Therefore, "nuclear insurance difficulties", "slow claims" and "intermediaries" are the biggest pain points of the insurance industry. Today, the industry revolution triggered by blockchain technology has quietly arrived. Just as in the Internet era, the pain points of taxiing have been broken up and created a new model; based on the technical characteristics of blockchain, the insurance industry is also likely to In the spring breeze of technology, ushering in an era of more convenient, efficient and low cost, the insurance industry is changing.

Blockchain technology principles and characteristics

Blockchain is essentially a bookkeeping technology because of its inherent "distributed storage", "open and transparent data on the chain", "automated execution of smart contracts", "encryption of private information", and "on-chain information" "Immutable" and other characteristics have gained more room for change in the insurance industry than in the Internet era.

Blockchain is not a brand new technology. It is a fusion of multiple disciplines and technologies. The reason why the blockchain is promoted to the same status as 5G and artificial intelligence is that its technical characteristics have the potential to break the original trust model-building trust through people or intermediaries, and thus building a new trust relationship-through Computers to build trust. Therefore, as an insurance industry deeply dependent on the social credit system, if the credit information can be obtained at a lower cost and in a more convenient way, then this industry will undergo drastic changes.

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The changes blockchain has brought to the insurance industry

In the field of traditional travel, information asymmetry breeds the chaos of illegal “black cars”. Internet sharing travel under the supervision of the Internet technology breaks the original information barrier, regulates the taxi market, and makes taxis easier.

In the traditional insurance industry, insurance fraud, reinsurance business reconciliation difficulties, and high fees charged by middlemen are more common. To solve these problems, it is necessary to use the open and transparent technical characteristics of blockchain data information under the unified planning of the regulatory department to allow all insurance information to be shared on the chain, regardless of the transaction information of direct insurance companies, reinsurance companies, and brokers. Being open and transparent, avoiding repeated entry of information, it can solve the problems of reinsurance reconciliation and low efficiency.

At the same time, the insurance industry can use the information tamperability of the blockchain to help insurance companies find and verify the on-chain information of the insured customers under the premise of authorized access, so that underwriting and claims can be performed more timely and accurately, which can effectively prevent insurance Fraud.

Because the blockchain can also implement distributed encrypted storage of data, customers' private information can be protected, while other information can be checked on the chain, and customers can compare multiple parties, which can prevent insurance intermediaries from gaining the asymmetric information advantage, and the profiteering space is wild. No deposit.

Issues to consider in developing blockchain insurance

Is the participant willing to upload information? Blockchain technology is different from the Internet. Personal information can be encrypted without worrying about the risk of data leakage. However, because ordinary users have different levels of awareness of blockchain technology and their ability to master the technology, it is not easy to get all the participants' information on the chain. This not only tests the adaptability of blockchain technology in the insurance industry, but also requires the blockchain to quickly break through its technical bottlenecks. It also needs to enable ordinary insurance users to realize the benefits of information on the chain more quickly and comprehensively.

How much resistance do the vested interests in the insurance industry have against change? In the traditional insurance industry, greedy middlemen and even criminals use information asymmetry to make huge profits, and the occurrence of insurance fraud often hides a chain of power and benefits. The insurance industry, which is about to undergo changes through blockchain and other technologies, is bound to open up the "shadow" of illegal interest groups. How to eliminate the resistance to change formed by these people's union is an issue we need to think about and prevent.

Can the insurance industry share information? Each insurance company has its own business goals, and it is not easy to get through all insurance companies to allow information to be shared safely. At present, insurance companies that are at the forefront of blockchain technology have developed their own alliance chains, which have their own trends. For the insurance industry to achieve information on-chain, on-chain sharing, and standardized operations, regulatory agencies need to accelerate the formulation of policies and regulations. Insurance public service agencies will lead the insurance industry's on-chain information sharing platform to allow participants to be equal, free, Use this infrastructure transparently to form a healthy development of insurance blockchain.

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