Abstract
The term blockchain was coined in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto. Initially, it was used for carrying out decentralised transactions to solve the problem of fake transactions. In the past few years, this was explored extensively for cryptocurrency only, but, over some time, its potential has been explored in many areas. The major reason for the growing interest in this particular technology is that it provides a secure, reliable, and trusted platform to perform digital activities. This is executed without the involvement of any third party.
Once the data is entered into the nodes, it is impossible to tamper it. Though blockchain is costly, it provides better solutions to many research problems in real- time. In recent times, researchers have explored blockchain in deep and used it in many applications such as building smart contracts, supply chain management, digital identity providers, voting systems, banking, and finance applications, P2P learning, and insurance sectors. Through this chapter, the readers will get a systematic and detailed study of blockchain in the insurance sector and smart contracts and its current applications in the insurance sector.
This chapter will also provide a fair idea of blockchain technology in the insurance sector and its usage in specific applications. In the end, a relevant set of further reading references will be provided.