Professor Alex Norta has signed on as scientific advisor to Black Insurance, a blockchain startup building a platform for insurance brokers to launch their own insurance companies without traditional
Professor Alex Norta has signed on as scientific advisor to Black Insurance, a blockchain startup building a platform for insurance brokers to launch their own insurance companies without traditional middlemen. The platform holds significant potential for modernizing an industry that has resisted fundamental change.
Norta will lead development of the platform's technical whitepaper. Black Insurance aims to shortcut the insurance industry's slow product cycle by connecting brokers with capital sources, letting them create and sell policies without needing to work through established insurance companies. The platform secures data on the blockchain and runs business operations through smart contracts, minimizing the inefficiencies that plague traditional insurance and enabling faster innovation among platform members.
The insurance business operates through numerous gatekeepers: insurers, reinsurers, MGAs, agents, brokers, third parties, and wholesale brokers. Each layer adds friction and cost. Products developed by traditional insurance companies must navigate this complex web, a process that can take months or years. Insurance brokers who understand their markets well often cannot move fast enough to bring new products to customers. Black Insurance removes these barriers by offering insurance capacity directly to brokers and MGAs on its blockchain-based platform, letting them create virtual insurance companies without the overhead of traditional corporate structures.
Norta runs Norta & Partners, offering consultation and software development services in blockchain technology. He has advised on whitepapers for several successful blockchain projects: Neo, Qtum, Cedex, Datawallet, and Cashaa. Earlier in his career, he conducted post-doctoral research at Helsinki University's computer science department, working on the SOAMeS project. His PhD dissertation focused on dynamic business process collaboration across organizations, work that was part of the EU-funded CrossWork project.
"The insurance industry today is slow with bringing products to market because of excessive bureaucracy that distorts free-market mechanisms to the detriment of customers," Norta said. "Blockchain technology is a means to replace this excessive bureaucracy with a novel control mechanism that is much cheaper, faster and more trustable. Thus, the insurance industry can start to meet the markets needs quick and in a cost effective way."
Black Insurance has gained attention in the blockchain world. The company participated in a panel discussion about blockchain regulations in the EU and Estonia at the Tallinn Blockchain Conference earlier this year. The startup also finished second at the d10e Tokyo ICO Pitch Competition, where judges and participants gave the concept strong feedback. Black plans to participate in numerous blockchain conferences and events worldwide in the coming months.
Founder Risto Rossar spent eighteen years in insurance before starting Black. "I have been in the insurance industry for over eighteen years and I realized that I don't care about insurance. In fact, no one should care about insurance. It should be as simple as breathing and work without customers having to worry about it. We can solve a lot of inefficiencies through technology and will disrupt the insurance industry from the inside, building a seamless process that customers don't have to deal with," he said.
