The Institutes RiskBlock™ Alliance Launches Canopy, the Risk Management and Insurance Industry’s First Blockchain Platform
The Institutes RiskBlock Alliance, a blockchain consortium representing 31 risk management and insurance companies, has launched Canopy, the industry’s first end-to-end reusable blockchain framework, using the Corda blockchain platform.
R3, the enterprise software firm that developed Corda, signed an agreement with the RiskBlock Alliance to support the Canopy platform as a set of standardized blockchains to be used for all use cases and applications. Upon its launch, Canopy will feature claims and policy blockchains that will serve as the foundation for most use cases. Creating core underlying blockchains to power future applications will help:
- Streamline the production of future blockchain applications
- Strengthen core blockchains as more applications are built on top of them
- Enable applications developed for use by all members to be built faster and more efficiently
- Enable third parties to leverage the permissioned environment to develop proprietary applications and share data with select other parties
“Partnering with Corda and creating this core set of standardized blockchains on Canopy is a blockchain game-changer for the insurance and risk management industry,” said Christopher McDaniel, executive director of the RiskBlock Alliance. “Blockchain will be most transformative for our industry if everyone is on one platform. It’s for that reason that we’re building an open, secure ecosystem that any and every insurance and risk management company can plug into.”
RiskBlock chose R3’s Corda platform based on its strong infrastructure and private data-storage capabilities. Specifically, on Corda, a company’s node will only store data with which they are involved. This provides member companies with an additional level of security and privacy.
“Corda offers unrivaled data privacy, scalability, interoperability and developer productivity, making it ideal for insurance blockchain applications. We’re delighted that the RiskBlock Alliance has chosen Corda as its blockchain platform, and we look forward to working together to further advance the insurance industry’s use of blockchain,” said Ryan Rugg, global head of insurance at R3.
The RiskBlock Alliance plans to build 15 to 20 blockchain applications for the property-casualty, life and annuity sectors over the next year. The first two applications, focused on proof of insurance and first notice of loss, have launched for member testing, integration with member systems, and intensive information security review. Applications for subrogation and parametric insurance will launch in early 2019.
