Earlier this month, blockchain startup Everledger joined the latest class of a startup accelerator owned by insurance and financial services company Allianz France.
Everledger, which uses a blockchain as a distributed registry for diamonds, is set to work with Allianz France, a subsidiary of Germany-based Allianz, to explore the technology even further.
Sylvain Theveniaud, managing director for the Allianz accelerator, said in a recent interview that his company sees promise in the blockchain and will work with Everledger to develop proofs-of-concept as part of a research initiative. By doing so, Allianz joins a growing number of mainstream financial firms, including insurers, that are testing the technology for possible applications.
He told CoinDesk:
“The idea is to work with Everledger and make [proofs-of-concept] and use cases that we can experiment with inside Allianz.”
Theveniaud went on to suggest that Allianz France sees the promise of the technology, but doesn’t have a clear idea of which use cases would be most relevant to it.
“We think that it’s a good time to start working with Everledger and see what kind of use cases we can develop with them,” he said.
In addition to the work with the blockchain, Theveniaud framed Everledger’s inclusion in the accelerator alongside five others as way for the company to explore a range of new financial technologies.
Everledger founder and CEO Leanne Kemp said in an email that the insurance market is a key target for the startup, and she has an eye to look beyond the use of the blockchain as a registry for one particular type of asset.
“Everledger is well placed to advance and apply its accumulated knowledge to assist insurers in the reduction of its core risk and provide a trusted ledger of ownership,” she told CoinDesk.
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Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Allianz France is a subsidiary of Germany-based Allianz.