With the recent announcement that the Chinese government is planning to utilise blockchain for elements of social security payments such as unemployment benefits and pensions, the fintech world continues to pursue its interest in Blockchain technology and, specifically, its ability to process and validate transactions over a decentralized infrastructure. One of the most notable Chinese insurance companies embracing Blockchain is ZhongAn – which aims to lead the digital insurance evolution within the Chinese industry.
ZhongAn’s new blockchain arm is developing a blockchain-based open platform for insurance transactions in order to facilitate the growth of an insurance industry ecosystem.
ZhongAn initially plans to tap the benefits of Blockchain to enable the use of smart contracts and will also use its own Blockchain server known as Anlink to mitigate the security risks that have plagued the development of Blockchain. Furthermore, ZhongAn is also promoting and working with local firms in Shanghai as part of the Shanghai Blockchain Industry Development Research Alliance – China’s first Blockchain-focused body to develop Blockchain applications.
According to ZhongAn’s CEO Jin Chen, “Not only will we develop technology, but our aim is to make technology become a commercial driving force, to put it at the core of our business ecosystem.”
Ultimately, this launch is particularly notable because Blockchain is still a nascent technology, with numerous architectural and security gaps. The fact that a new insurance player is willing to invest in and push the development of Blockchain as opposed to just leveraging a proven methodology is a move to watch.
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