Dive Brief:

• The Bitfury Group announced Friday it will partner with advisory firm Risk Cooperative to use blockchain in the insurance broking market, which is worth $60 billion,  according to Reuters. The partnership will explore using a blockchain-based system to host cyber insurance and political risk activities, Risk Cooperatives founder and CEO Dante Disparte told Reuters in an email. The hope is to speed up the underwriting process by using a secure platform. 

• Many risks are unfunded or underinsured because insurers use old systems and technologies, according to Bitfury. "Blockchain technology can bring transparency and security to the insurance industry, and can be a catalyst for new insurance business models," Valery Vavilov, CEO of Bitfury, said in a statement.

• Bitfury is also working with several governments. The company partnered with Ukraine to host a variety of government data on a blockchain platform. It also has agreement with Georgia to pilot a blockchain land-titling registry.

Dive Insight:

Blockchain technology helps guarantee information has a timestamp and recorded whenever any change happens, ensuring data can be trusted in real time​​. Until recently, applications of blockchain have primarily been seen in the financial industry.

But the technology is now being used in a growing number of industries, including education, banking and financial services. Security and scalability have been stumbling blocks with blockchain, but companies like Bitfury are making advances and moving the technology forward.

Several other companies are also investing big to move blockchain forward. In March, more than 30 companies announced a collaboration on a blockchain consortium that wants to make it easier for enterprises to use Ethereum blockchain code, a type of blockchain that can be used to develop decentralized applications. Participants include Intel, Microsoft and JPMorgan Chase, among others.