Beyond the Block: A Novel Blockchain-Based Technical Model for Long-Term Care Insurance
针对保险业交易成本高、隐私与信任难兼顾的百年难题，提出基于区块链的InsurModel模型，利用零知识证明等技术实现数据高效审计与加密验证，并以中国长期护理保险为例验证其可行性。
The insurance business is characterized by complicated transactional interrelationships among various stakeholders involved in insurance-related activities. Given this unique nature, the century-old challenge in the insurance industry is to effectively reduce transaction costs among the stakeholders while maintaining business privacy and trust. Although blockchain is a promising technology to mitigate this challenge, two technical issues, namely (1) inefficiency in data auditing and (2) difficulty in verifying encrypted data, are of strategic importance when applying blockchain to the insurance industry. To address these technical challenges, we propose an innovative blockchain-based technical model, InsurModel, in the context of newly initiated long-term care insurance in China. Specifically, we utilize cryptographical methods including “zero-knowledge-proof” to 1) represent business interdependence and 2) verify confidential business information without disclosure of specifics. We demonstrate the scalability and applicability of InsurModel and explore its strategic implications in constraining adverse behaviors of the stakeholders.