3 ms·
That's one of millions of applications. But yes, a human or a group of humans still need to be in the loop somewhere along the automation line, but depending o
by chrisco255 5y ago
That's one of millions of applications.
But yes, a human or a group of humans still need to be in the loop somewhere along the automation line, but depending on the insurance type, this sort of activity can be partially automated by automatic data feeds from oracles, such as what Etherisc does with crop insurance and flight insurance: https://etherisc.com/#products https://etherisc.com/#products
Etherisc's crop insurance product, in particular, is aimed at developing nations that do not have robust legal systems or mature, reliable, trustworthy insurance companies. They can, however, get some level of protection by blending weather disaster reports from oracles (drought, hurricane, flood, etc) along with geolocation data with automatic payouts.
So in that scenario it's actually a big improvement over the existing system, which is no crop insurance at all. And a smart contract that is provably solvent is far better than a fleeting promise from a local company that may steal your money with no legal recourse due to the jurisdiction.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> a big improvement over the existing system, which is no crop insurance at all Wat. It’s been provided by the federal government since 1938 [1]. It’s basically free for catastrophic. (It’s true that it’s not available for all crops in all counties. But that’s usually for a good reason. And private insurance fills the gaps.) [1] https://legacy.rma.usda.gov/aboutrma/what/history.html https://legacy.rma.usda.gov/aboutrma/what/history.html [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_Adjustment_Act_of_1938 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_Adjustment_Act_...
- unfocussed_mike 5y agoIs this a tacit admission that the USA is a "developing nation"? (Which is what GP is referring to). Because I'd buy that theory. (Less so a blockchain solution to anything)
- chrisco255 5y agoIn third world countries with no robust legal systems, such as Kenya, where they deployed. Read what I'm saying. All of what I'm saying.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> countries with no robust legal systems, such as Kenya Genuine question: since land ownership rests on said legal system, what prevents me from taking out insurance on the whole of Kenya?
- mellavora 5y agochrisco255 does have a good point. Many areas the world do not have good crop insurance. The 'parametric' insurance policies (which is what I think etherisc offers) are indeed the future of the industry. However, parametric insurance policies in no way need a blockchain to provide the service. Western Union does a great job of getting money to unbanked regions. Which makes me wonder one more thing about blockchain based solutions. What currency is the payout made in? How is blockchain an advantage if the payout is to be in USD? or local currency? If it is instead in crypto, how do you manage the FX risk? Or the legal risk? or the simple "I don't have an easy way to convert crypto to local" risk?