Etherisc is an open-source, decentralized protocol for building blockchain-based insurance products, including policies for flight delays and carbon offsets, that self-execute using highly reliable data from Chainlink oracles.
The platform also provides Kenyan farmers with parametric crop insurance enabled by the Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition and powered by Chainlink oracles on the Avalanche blockchain. This week, Etherisc announced it expanded coverage to an additional 7,000 farmers who used their feature phones to sign up for $1 policies that insured their entire crop during Kenya’s most recent short rains season.
Data from local yield samples collected by Pula were triangulated with meteorological data and delivered on-chain via Chainlink’s industry-standard oracle network to the insurance smart contract, which automatically deposited end-of-season payouts into the policyholders’ m-pesa mobile bank accounts.
By eliminating the need for human adjusters, Etherisc’s insurance smart contracts significantly reduce the time and cost associated with the traditional claims process, which can take months or even years. Smart contracts allow farmers to receive timely compensation with a fully transparent view of how verified and triangulated yield data is used to calculate individual payouts.
Etherisc’s co-founder and CEO, Christoph Mussenbrock, celebrated the achievement by highlighting how much further Etherisc’s crop insurance solution can scale.
“There are more than 7.5 million smallholder farmers in Kenya, many of whom are vulnerable to the devastating effects of climate change,” he said. “Working closely with our many partners, we see significant opportunities for our blockchain based parametric insurance platform in protecting farmers’ livelihoods.”
The Lemonade Crypto Climate Coalition (LCCC) was launched in 2022 by the Lemonade Foundation alongside founding members Avalanche, Chainlink, DAOstack, Etherisc, Hannover Re, and Pula with the goal of empowering subsistence farmers through accessible, reliable, at-cost parametric crop insurance.
“This project is still just on the runway, and thousands of farmers might just be the beginning of a massive movement,” said John Wu, President of Ava Labs, a team supporting the development of Avalanche.
LCCC’s next focus is broadening Etherisc’s reach during Kenya’s upcoming growing season by extending coverage to tens of thousands more subsistence farmers throughout the region.
Said Shai Wininger, Director at the Lemonade Foundation, “We’re excited to expand beyond this initial stage and continue scaling to give even more farmers access to critical financial protection when they need it most.”
To learn more about Etherisc, visit their website, Twitter, Telegram, and Medium.