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AXA Is Using Ethereum's Blockchain for a New Flight Insurance Product

32 points by mgalka 9y ago

batbomb 9y ago
Ironic considering how ancient their IT is. My friend was an advisor and they are solidly in the 2005 era as far as security and maintenance goes.
- ikeboy 9y ago
  They somehow managed to get a gTLD https://icannwiki.org/.axa https://icannwiki.org/.axa
dcw303 9y ago
> It maintains an accessible record of the insurance contract itself within a smart contract And why would I want details of my insurance contract on a publicly visible blockchain? What am I missing here? edit, to elaborate: A currency ledger blockchain has to be visible to all participants, that's how we can all come to an agreement on who owns what. What I don't get is why my insurance contract has to be visible by any parties other than me and the insurer. Hence, what value does putting this data on a blockchain bring?
- rficcaglia 9y ago
  accessible/visible could mean the details of the contract encrypted (or more likely crypto hashed), not publicly readable as plaintext later if some authority needs to validate/litigate, it would be easy to decrypt the pertinent data with the key or by comparing hashes that said, simply letting the world know that you did enter into a contract - regardless of the details - is leakage of privacy so buyer beware EDIT: elaborating in response to the above edit...on their FAQ they say they use blockchain to speed the process - instant gratification and automatic payment. i am sure this is merely a marketing PoC to gague consumer comfort levels with blockchain apps. and buzz, which it is obviously getting here. but long term, think about the cost savings if you automate claims processes. in Florida and Houston right now they cannot find enough insurance adjustors to process claims for victims. in 5 years you can likely use a fancy AR+AI mobile app to do self-inspection, which would trigger a smart contract for payment of the claim. feel free to apply to YC with that :)
yoloswagins 9y ago
Crypto currency novice here. Would it be possible to see how many policies they sell, and how many they payout?
caf 9y ago
How exactly does the information on whether the flight was delayed or not become available to the executing smart contract?
powmedia 9y ago
What are the advantages of having this service run on a blockchain? There is nothing stopping a company from providing a similar service with a traditional server setup, right? Is it simply that the contract is visible to others to validate it took place?

32 points by mgalka 9y ago

Ironic considering how ancient their IT is. My friend was an advisor and they are solidly in the 2005 era as far as security and maintenance goes.

ikeboy 9y ago
They somehow managed to get a gTLD https://icannwiki.org/.axa https://icannwiki.org/.axa

dcw303 9y ago

> It maintains an accessible record of the insurance contract itself within a smart contract And why would I want details of my insurance contract on a publicly visible blockchain? What am I missing here? edit, to elaborate: A currency ledger blockchain has to be visible to all participants, that's how we can all come to an agreement on who owns what. What I don't get is why my insurance contract has to be visible by any parties other than me and the insurer. Hence, what value does putting this data on a blockchain bring?

rficcaglia 9y ago
accessible/visible could mean the details of the contract encrypted (or more likely crypto hashed), not publicly readable as plaintext later if some authority needs to validate/litigate, it would be easy to decrypt the pertinent data with the key or by comparing hashes that said, simply letting the world know that you did enter into a contract - regardless of the details - is leakage of privacy so buyer beware EDIT: elaborating in response to the above edit...on their FAQ they say they use blockchain to speed the process - instant gratification and automatic payment. i am sure this is merely a marketing PoC to gague consumer comfort levels with blockchain apps. and buzz, which it is obviously getting here. but long term, think about the cost savings if you automate claims processes. in Florida and Houston right now they cannot find enough insurance adjustors to process claims for victims. in 5 years you can likely use a fancy AR+AI mobile app to do self-inspection, which would trigger a smart contract for payment of the claim. feel free to apply to YC with that :)

yoloswagins 9y ago

Crypto currency novice here. Would it be possible to see how many policies they sell, and how many they payout?

caf 9y ago

How exactly does the information on whether the flight was delayed or not become available to the executing smart contract?

powmedia 9y ago

What are the advantages of having this service run on a blockchain? There is nothing stopping a company from providing a similar service with a traditional server setup, right? Is it simply that the contract is visible to others to validate it took place?