Growing insurance consortium eyes industry-wide blockchain

ZURICH: A consortium set up to explore the use of blockchain technology in the insurance industry plans to announce several new members in the coming weeks, and by 2018 could create an organisation to manage contracts and claims, an executive involved told Reuters. Proponents of blockchain – the database technology that underpins bitcoin – believe it could transform the insurance industry through a shared, transparent record of information, allowing for data transfers in seconds and streamlining communications and transactions.