The Algorand-supported digital guarantees platform will be used in Italy’s banking and insurance markets and will be launched in early 2023. The company announced the news on December 13 at a three-day forum hosted by the Research Center for Technologies, Innovations, and Finance of the Catholic University of Milan (CETIF).
This is the first time an EU country will use blockchain technology for bank and insurance guarantees. The center has been focusing on developing a blockchain-based ecosystem for a Digital Sureties platform for the country’s banking and insurance markets.
Under the bank guarantee, a lending institution would cover the loss if a borrower defaults on a loan instead of having to provide a deposit or a deposit bond to a supplier or vendor. Similarly, for an insurance guarantee, the insurance provider would cover the loss instead of the bank in case of a default.
This new Digital Sureties platform is being developed by the CETIF board and has been endorsed by the Bank of Italy and the Italian insurance authority IVASS.
Algorand has been scaling up for a while now. In September, the protocol underwent a major upgrade that boosted its transaction speed, processing capacity, and cross-chain functionality. Several institutions have chosen to launch their projects on the Algorand blockchain in the past.
A year ago, Miami launched air quality monitoring sensors to transcribe aggregated sensor data to the Algorand Blockchain. A few months later, in May 2022, Algorand became the official blockchain partner of FIFA. The music streaming platform Napster also launched its token on the Algorand blockchain
