How the rise in blockchain is challenging insurance

Blockchain and the internet of things (IoT) are impacting understandings of data ownership and bringing benefits to certain industries, though the uses of these technologies are also shifting the conversation around cyber liability and privacy. When it comes to blockchain and other forms of distributed ledger technology, one expert told Insurance Business that he has yet to see sweeping, sector-wide changes come from its implementation, though the potential is clearly there. “To date, I’d say it’s probably more trouble than it’s been worth on an enterprise level because everybody wants to adopt the blockchain, but they don’t really understand what it takes to implement and why it’s beneficial for them, said Paul King (pictured), SVP and national technical director of executive and professional solutions at USI Insurance Services, and a panelist at the upcoming Emerging Risks & Innovation Summit in New York. “The real value is going to lie in the combination of what blockchain entails, and the thought processes it is making people move towards, which is a deconstruction and decentralizing of data in many different ways, and then using the blockchain ledger technology for access to that distributed data.