Insurance broker IMA Financial has issued a certificate of insurance (COI) using blockchain with the document represented by a non-fungible token (NFT).
The COI was issued to Engiven, the cryptocurrency donation software provider. The document outlines the core details of an insurance policy.
“The issuance of certificates is a key tactical procedure for all brokers, with hundreds of millions issued nationwide each year,” said IMA SVP and Director of Innovation and Strategy Garrett Droege. “Despite the buzz around NFTs, the tools aren’t widely used in business. COIs are the perfect utility to illustrate their value, and blockchain leader Engiven is the perfect partner.”
The solution was executed by Web3Labs, the new IMA division unveiled in March that set up a presence in the Decentraland metaverse.
IMA talks about the importance of COI’s, particularly in certain sectors such as construction and oil and gas. That’s because they are high accident risk industries. And as a result, another broker, Marsh developed a blockchain COI solution back in 2019, targeted at precisely those sectors. It later extended it to gig workers.
While it’s not mentioned in IMA’s announcement, IMA is a partner of blockchain startup TrustLayer, which created a COI solution using the Corda enterprise blockchain. TrustLayer won The Institutes’ Insurtech aware for its work and worked on a proof of concept with the blockchain consortium RiskStream.
