Etherisc, a world leading decentralized insurance platform, which specializes in collectively building insurance products has announced that it supports the first blockchain-powered insurance product so as to address catastrophic weather calamities in Puerto Rico.
The hurricane insurance policy, which will be developed on Etherisc’s blockchain platform, will help in addressing the problems that one encounters whole dealing with insurance companies after low-incomes households and several small businesses, which were hit by Hurricane Maria experienced delays in having their claims settled as well as refusal by insurance companies to settle some claims.
The policy, which was developed in a period of 90 days by Ethereum engineers, will allow one of the very first use of decentralized insurance in the real-world and seeks to show how to customize Etherisc-based insurance templates so as to manage as well as mitigate risks for several communities globally.
In a statement, Renat Khasanshyn, a Co-Founder of Etherisc said many businesses and residents of Puerto Rican are still waiting to have their claims settled, six months after Hurricane Maria. He added that many have waited for months for payouts or assessments. Khasanshyn regretted that this has left many people without homes, with no money to undertake repairs and with no safety net for loss of income.
The decentralized insurance protocol developed by Etherisc will help remove the involvement of large traditional insurance firms and will use a set of automated smart contracts to record and store transaction in a transparent and secure manner. The technology helps to remove the need for middlemen in the equation hence cutting the cost for small businesses and households. Additionally, the system automatically calculates premiums as well as claim payouts hence allows faster and cheaper settlement of policies compared to traditional insurance companies.
On his part, Etherisc Co-Founder Stephan Karpischek noted that just half of the household in Puerto Rican have insusrance policies to cover them from damage caused by wind. He noted that this is a dangerous trend given that the country is a perennial victim of deadly storms. Karpischek added that these occurrences have serious socioeconomic impacts, with the country having lost around 470,000 homes as a result of the Hurricane Maria.
