Surety

A decentralized insurance marketplace for affordable and fair insurance through guaranteed competitive pricing and data-driven payouts.

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Inspiration

One day, my discrete math teacher came in and shared a troubling story. His friend’s house had burned down due to electrical failures, and he had been struggling with LibertyMutual in court for months to get a fair settlement, yet nothing had come of it. I knew there was something wrong with how things were done in insurance.

I dove deeper into research to uncover the problems with insurance and encountered two significant issues: exorbitant costs and a lack of fair claims processing. I found that the norm for insurance companies is that they receive ten claims and deny them mindlessly, six will go away, and of the remaining four insureds, two will push back, so the insurance company will only pay dimes. Additionally, many counties have only one insurer on the marketplace, and many of these monopolies have led to the excessive premiums that people often complain about. I set out to create a solution.

What it does

Finding cheap, reliable insurance has never been easier. I decided to make insurance inexpensive to people through a competitive bidding system on an open market that drives competitive pricing and also utilizing smart contracts with clear, transparent terms so customers can receive reliable, data-driven payouts in a decentralized insurance marketplace called Surety. Companies also benefit from instant and free claims processing they typically spend millions on and worldwide customer access. They can offer insurance to the unbanked and reach areas that often have trouble finding coverage.

Process:

  1. Enter insurance information + preferences, get a calculated payout, and submit to the marketplace
  2. Receive real-time offers for proposed premiums from various insurance companies on the same policy and select the best one
  3. Finalize a smart contract with the company
  4. Customer receives an automatic payout if the condition is triggered, while the company will receive a premium over time and will collect a payout if the contract is not paid out at the end

How we built it

Due to its low gas fees, we built this application on the Polygon blockchain. We created Solidity smart contracts, which function as insurance contracts integrating Chainlink data oracles to connect to AccuWeather’s weather data API. This data is used to detect floods through various indicators, including wind speeds and precipitation data. To make users unfamiliar with crypto feel comfortable, we used Magic LINK to enable social logins to access their wallet easily and Kado to exchange for USDC on the platform instantly. To calculate home prices and payouts, we created an algorithm based on square footage, bathrooms, and other home information measures to calculate the desired payout for the users’ homes. The development stack comprises mainly NextJS, which has a React frontend, NodeJS backend, and MongoDB as its database.

Challenges we ran into

Crafting reliable smart contracts to use with data oracles and managing event sequencing proved to be intricate tasks that required extensive testing due to various bugs that could not be perceived through console logs. We also faced the learning curve associated with using NextJS, a relatively new framework, and found implementing dependable socket-based bid rooms, tests, and real-time blockchain status updates challenging. The authentication also proved to be a hassle, as we not only had to support social logins for wallet authentication while also managing keys for Metamask and WalletConnect.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I’m proud of basing much of our features on discussions with local insurance business owners and agents to figure out the nuances of insurance, such as avoiding payout fraud and maintaining ease of use while ensuring good insurance protection. The user experience aligns with the simplicity I envisioned, offering seamless integration with blockchain technology that presents a gateway for anyone to use our app. I am also proud that we successfully developed and implemented smart contracts with data-driven payouts that operate smoothly and effectively.

What we learned

Developing Surety provided invaluable insights into the complexity and intricacies of the insurance industry. Insurance goes far beyond the simplicity we initially perceived, necessitating constant adjustments and adaptations throughout development. In line with Chainlink’s mission to create “an unbiased world driven not by vague brand promises but by cryptographic guarantees,” we gained much more experience writing smart contracts and integrating decentralization to improve an everyday experience.

What's next for Surety

  1. Risk Pooling: Implementing risk pooling mechanisms to create greater stability for insurers.
  2. Better Payouts: Expanding the use of multiple data oracles and leveraging sensors and machine learning algorithms to enhance flood detection capabilities.
  3. Expansion to Other Insurance Types: Extending our platform to cover various insurance sectors such as auto insurance, flight insurance, cybersecurity insurance, event planning insurance, and more.
  4. Automated Risk Analysis: Developing simple risk analysis tools to assist insurers in assessing and managing risks more efficiently.
  5. Enhanced Home Price Calculator: Integrating with Zillow API to provide more accurate home price valuations.
  6. Home Ownership Verification: Ensure the authenticity of property-related transactions by verifying ownership of homes.
  7. ProductHunt Presence: Establishing a presence on platforms like ProductHunt to increase visibility and gather valuable user feedback.
  8. Partnerships with Flood Insurance Companies: Obtaining the local insurance companies we met with and more prominent flood insurance companies as sellers on our platform.

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