(The article is first published on Yahoo News on November 17, 2020)
Decentralized insurance provider Bridge Mutual has started the world’s first-ever insurance coverage offering in one of the fastest-growing digital asset markets: stablecoins.
Bridge Mutual is based on a decentralized, discretionary insurance application that allows users to insure each other, get reimbursed in the event of a market crash or an attack, and share profits from the operation of the platform.
Total Stablecoins by Market Capitalization is more than $23 Billion, Tether alone is more than $18 Billion by November 18, 2020, according to Coingecko.com. However, Stablecoins are not always stable. They are also susceptible to crashing and becoming potentially useless.
On October 15, 2018, Tether, the market dominating stablecoin was attacked, breaking Tether’s peg to USD, dropping its value by 7%. During an attack, the market movement is massive and sudden.
Assuming these attacks are legal and highly profitable, just like Soros’ attack, they will come back again and again (e.g., NuBits crash; DAI liquidity crisis).
Bridge Mutual has invented a novel and transparent way of insuring stablecoins. The service one-ups the competition by offering to ensure stablecoins and exchanges, not just smart contracts.
Bridge Mutual is built on both the Ethereum and Polkadot network, which offers fork-less, on-chain upgrading capabilities and a superior transaction fee structure.
Users can join the Bridge ecosystem by purchasing BMI tokens and staking BMI in Bridge coverage pools. Funds within the coverage pools are automatically invested on-chain in other platforms, such as Compound and Aave to generate yields for users.
Quotes are generated on-chain by an actuarial formula; users may connect their Web 3 wallet (Metamask and others) to pay for the coverage after receiving the quote.
Part of the premiums paid by users buying coverage is split among users providing that coverage as a profit-sharing incentive.
Stablecoin insurance claims are settled instantly. All other claims go through a 3-phase voting process that settles claims in 6 weeks or less. Incentive systems are put in place to ensure that each claim is adjudicated fairly and accurately without fraud or collusion.
“Our platform does not require any form of identification from its users. All funds within our ecosystem are held in smart contracts; Bridge is entirely non-custodial. No Bridge team member ever has access to the funds being staked on the system,” said Bridge Mutual Co-Founder and CEO Michael Miglio.
Bridge Mutual has assembled a stellar team of experts in insurance, finance, blockchain industries, as well as programmers, legal and marketing specialists. The project enjoyed oversubscribed angel and seed rounds, and is currently in negotiations with top-tier blockchain funds to fill its private round.
Bridge Mutual will be the first platform to provide coverage for the massive $20B+ stablecoin economy, which is growing at an exponential rate.
