Insurance markets embrace Blockchain, a team of Blockchain experts offers consultation - this is one side of the CT London Scene Roundup, the last one this year. There’s also a funny side, as Nick Ayton spots Satoshi again and speaks with an old lady trapped in a Bitcoin mine.
Insurance sector gets hot
The insurance sector has begun to realize that Blockchain is a great match for reinsurance and that smart contracts lend itself to the complexities of offsetting risk and managing multiple parties, each with a role to play and financial interest in getting it right the first time. ChainThat is one of the companies to watch.
I caught up with two of the founders, Vikas Acharya and David Edwards, at an InsurTech industry dinner and asked them:
CT: What inroads are you making in the London insurance market?
David Edwards: We have a number of proof of concepts with insurers and things are picking up, but the bulk of the London insurance market has yet to embrace Blockchain.
CT: What makes you think ChainThat may succeed with insurers?
Vikas Acharya: We designed our stack to allow industries - insurers, in this case - to rapidly test and prototype Blockchain-based services. We try to make complex technologies easier to use and to experiment with. We spend a lot of our time educating customers and focus on real-world projects that can be put into live production environments and scale up quickly.
DE: We were the first to get working prototypes for commercial specialty reinsurance and have a working approach available. We are finding that it takes a while for clients to understand what they can do with decentralized applications. It is also great to have Rick Huckstep as an advisor who is well-known across the InsurTech space and a champion for new technologies.
TeamBlockchain launch
Some of the key operators in the Blockchain space have decided to collaborate for #TeamBlockchain in the city of London, comprising some of the best Blockchain thinkers in the country.
Pat Lynes, founder of Sullivan & Stanley, who is intent on reinventing the interim management market in the UK, explains:
“The concept is to make available an independent expert Blockchain team for organizations to accelerate their Blockchain thinking, plans and development. It is not often you get people with a broad view and experience of new technologies in one place, to play nicely as one team.”
He adds: “Deploying one or two Blockchain specialists into our clients won’t have the impact of placing a seasoned team. It becomes a real game changer for organizations to get real things done and not waste time and money on consultants that don’t have the deep experience of actually building things using Blockchain technologies.”
Thomas Power, a professional NED, TED speaker and board member of several tech companies, says: “Joining up with Blockchain luminaries such as Gary Nuttall, an insurance specialist, Alan Sheriff, a computer science geek, Pawel Kuskowski, CEO of Coinfirm.io and a cryptocurrency and compliance expert and Nick Ayton who designs Blockchain operating models was a real breakthrough. We were very lucky they agreed to get involved.”
Looks like TeamBlockchain is gaining momentum as the team is growing fast, bringing together other experts and adding more experience.
80 Year old woman trapped in Bitcoin mine
It was revealed exclusively to Cointelegraph by a spokesperson from the emergency services that an old lady remains trapped in a Bitcoin mine.
We caught up with the deputy mayor of London, who explained:
“We know there is a labyrinth of tunnels under the city of London but I had no idea there were mines, especially active ones.”
But what was she doing there?
The lady, who refused to be named, said:
“It was very hot in the mine and I was sweating a lot. It was dark and I could not see what they were mining, and they didn’t speak English, I think they were Chinese.”
Oh well, might teach the nosey old lady not to spook about in the cupboard under the stairs from now on.
Blockchain entrepreneur abducted by aliens
An eyewitness report mentions Billy Wizz who lives in the east end of London as he was abducted on Saturday afternoon on his way home just after the West Ham football team lost.
Billy Wizz mentions:
“I had just bought fish and chips for my tea when I noticed a tall thin figure with his hand out. I immediately thought he wanted a chip but he touched me on the shoulder.”
CT: What happened then?
Billy Wizz: I found myself back at my flat and my chips were freezing cold. Worst of all, my saveloy was gone.
CT: Did they hurt you?
BW: I have been abducted before…you know…it all started to get a bit weird when I got involved in Blockchain. We were focusing on building a solution for speeding up the movement of space freight using the proof of elapsed time protocol by Intel. Some of our developers were mentioning that they had arrived at the office at 9 am and then it was 5 pm and they couldn’t get anything done.”
CT: Were you experimented on?
BW: Yes, but not in this dimension.
Thanks, Billy. Yes, it is starting to get a bit weird for us now. Better luck next time for a West Ham home win and maybe you should hide your saveloy as it is obvious this would be the first thing an alien would make a grab for.
Satoshi spotted again in London
Eyewitness Vittalark Buttering reveals:
“I stopped at the traffic lights and he came up beside me. I know it was him riding the bike, I recognized the Deliveroo backpack and the way he was peddling. He was trying his best not to be recognized, but then I got a whiff of red Thai curry and that confirmed it was really him.”
CT: How can you be sure?
Vittalark Buttering: Everyone knows that his name is Satoshi Nakamoto and that he comes from Thailand. I simply put two and two together.
Thanks Vittalark for the tip off. Keep up the good work and let us know when you next spot Satoshi.