Dec 15, 2017 - This project explores how blockchain will change business models dependent on free big data. Distributed ledger technology will enable instant payment networks, loyalty schemes, aggregated metadata, multi-jurisdiction processes, and transactions within multinationals, potentially without liability for customer data and in compliance with EU General Data Protection Regulation.

Jan 12, 2018 - The healthcare systems of many countries work for neither the medical professionals nor the patients they serve. It is the only industry where innovation drives costs up. The problem ultimately resides in industrial-age thinking about healthcare delivery, where intermediaries hoard data, assume patient ignorance, and exclude anyone without insurance. This project flips the model: patients co-create and own their data, have full access to it, and can monetize it on the blockchain.

Nov 21, 2019 - Insurance is a significant industry worldwide: in 2017, total global gross written premiums tallied $4.8 trillion. In this white paper, Henry Kim and Muhammad Izhar Mehar of the Schulich School of Business offer clear guidance for evaluating potential blockchain use cases in commercial insurance. They take a “first principles” approach rooted in historical and economic perspectives and provide a more scientific framework for comparisons. It is a practical work for professionals responsible for sizing up the potential of distributed ledger technology in the insurance industry.

Nov 24, 2020 - This project explores applications of blockchain technologies to the market for property insurance. The authors explain how distributed ledgers could simplify and speed up both proof of insurance and the processing of insurance claims and open up markets for microinsurance. Property insurers and insurtech innovators could offer a new generation of radically simplified and less expensive insurance products with simpler terms automated through smart contracts, which would reduce much of the operating costs of traditional insurance companies, their actuaries, accountants, and adjustors.

Jun 28, 2021 - This project reports on the state of the enterprise blockchain space. It begins with commentary on the state of the world writ large—from the pandemic’s effects on the economy and the global need for vaccinations to the K-shaped recovery and the consequences of helicopter money (e.g., inflation). It covers a series of developments relevant to enterprise users: the price volatility of cryptocurrencies, the shortcomings of consensus mechanisms for enterprise needs, the growth of stablecoins, the status of tokenless blockchains and blockchain-as-a-service offerings, and the latest on central bank digital currencies (e.g., China’s digital c...