InsuranceDAO

Inspiration

We were excited by the challenge from Rebuilding Society, whose presentation highlighted how traditional insurance can be slow, expensive, and difficult for smaller firms to access. This got us thinking about how DAOs could shake up the industry. So, we set out to build a blockchain-powered, community-driven insurance DAO that makes things more transparent and fair for everyone.

What it does

Our project is an online wizard designed to simplify the process of creating and administering an insurance DAO for UK individuals and stakeholders. The goal is to enable groups of participants to collectively fund and manage their own insurance policies in a decentralized, transparent, and automated manner. The wizard facilitates:

User Login and Wallet Connection – Participants connect their crypto wallets to authenticate and interact with the system.
Delegate Profile Creation – Users create a delegate profile and pay a premium to join the DAO.
Viewing Other Delegates – Members can view all other delegates within the DAO to enhance transparency and community trust.
Submitting Proposals – Members can submit governance proposals, including adding payments, function calls, and importing JSON actions for review.
Review Claims - Members can review all the proposals submitted by all DAO members
Governance and Policy Review – Members of the DAO can join governance meetings, implemented using Pexip, for seamless decision-making and policy updates.

High-Level Processes in the Wizard

Identifying users: Board members, shareholders, committees, and service providers. We assumed all users operate at the same hierarchy level.
- Defining the DAO's mandate, sustainability statement, and type of organization: We implemented a single smart contract tailored for an insurance DAO.
- Managing transactions securely on the blockchain ledger: We used a testnet for creating proposals, submitting claims, and connecting to the network (using Sepolia ETH to test proposals and delegation).
- Integrating blockchain and storage solutions: Crypto wallet connectivity was implemented, and we used IPFS Pinata for decentralized file storage.

How we built it

We based our web application on an existing governance template from Aragon, a well-known platform for managing DAOs. However, to tailor the template to our specific use case, we had to make significant modifications, including:
- Customizing the governance template to support insurance DAO functionalities such as premium collection, underwriting, and claims assessment.
- Implementing blockchain smart contracts (provided by the template) to manage governance decisions and transactions securely.
- Integrating wallet connectivity to allow users to link their crypto wallets and participate in DAO activities seamlessly.
- Setting up governance meetings through *Pexip* for real-time discussions and decision-making. ## Challenges we ran into
Balancing simplicity and functionality – We needed to make the wizard user-friendly while ensuring it included all critical features of an insurance DAO.
- Finding the right existing DAO solution – We faced challenges in identifying the best existing DAO apps, as many had outdated documentation or lacked support for the technologies we intended to use. After testing different implementations, we found Aragon to be the most suitable option.
Modifying the Aragon template – While Aragon provided a strong foundation, customizing it to fit our needs required extensive development work.
Ensuring regulatory considerations – Since financial services are highly regulated, we had to consider how our DAO model could align with UK insurance laws and compliance standards.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Learning new technologies with great potential for future applications.
Successfully working in a team under a heavy time constraint.
Creating a fully functional, scenario-based insurance DAO.

What we learned
How to efficiently collaborate in a team with strict deadlines.
Gaining hands-on experience with blockchain, DAOs, and decentralized governance models.
The importance of adaptability when working with emerging and rapidly evolving technologies.

What's next for InsuranceDAO
Some well-deserved sleep!
Expanding the project to support a more generic DAO creation process beyond just insurance.
Introducing roles within the DAO, which would enhance governance and improve the voting system.
Enhancing the Pexip API integration to provide a more versatile and dynamic experience for governance meetings.