Chinese local news outlet, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday February 9 that Insurance firms in China are using the Blockchain to manage Coronavirus-related claims. The report said that Chinese online mutual aid platform Xiang Hu Bao added the Coronavirus to the illnesses eligible for the maximum one-time payout of around $14,300 (100,000 Yuan).
Xiang Hu Bao is a Blockchain-based collective claim-sharing platform with 104 million users. As per the report, the Blockchain technology-based system is used to prevent fraud and allow for faster claim processing. The platform is owned by Chinese finance giant Ant financial and uses its mobile payment processing service Alipay, which funds the payouts for valid Coronavirus-related claims. A spokesperson for the firm praised the platform by saying;
“Xiang Hu Bao has been able to process claims and make payouts to participants quicker, due to the decentralized, trust-free nature of Blockchain technology. Claim applicants can submit their supporting documents as evidence while investigation firms can get immediate access to them on the Blockchain. All parties involved can see the entire process.”
In the same region, the bank of East Asia is reportedly helping to decrease the bureaucratic impact of the coronavirus outbreak with a medical claims app. The firm’s managing director, Patrick Wan told South China Morning post;
“Our Blockchain-backed claims service has played a key role during the outbreak of the coronavirus by totally eliminating the paper process and the need for back-and-forth documents delivery to clinics. This really helps to mitigate the risk of infection from face-to-face contact.”
Blue Cross Insurance claims that their platform is able to manage 1,000 transactions per second without human involvement. The platform has so far seen a double digit monthly policyholder user base growth. Part of the reason for its growing popularity is the expediting of claims processing. Users are able to see the results of their claim within a day.
The Coronavirus has claimed the lives of 811 people with 37,198 infections reported in total. The efforts made to combat the virus have also included Blockchain technology. Blockchain-enabled applications developer Acoer, has developed a data visualization tool called Hash Log to track the deadly Coronavirus. This tool employs the distributed ledger protocol Hedera Hashgraph to track the virus. The Coronavirus has also slowed down the crypto industry with multiple crypto events in china being suspended. Analysts were curious and waited to see whether the virus would have an effect on Bitcoin price.
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