Following this week’s Insurtech Insights Europe conference in London, we sat down with Oleksandr Zeziulinskyi, founder of HestiaX, to find out more about how tokenisation is impacting the insurance industry.
HestiaX provides capital markets infrastructure for insurance portfolios, helping insurers unlock liquidity and giving institutional investors access to predictable insurance-backed yield.
Q: What role can tokenisation play in the insurance industry?
Tokenisation helps insurers unlock liquidity from cashflows that often remain on their balance sheets for months before being collected.
By turning those predictable receivables into investable instruments, insurers can access capital earlier, free up balance sheet capacity and write more business.
For investors, it creates access to a new category of yield-bearing assets linked to insurance cashflows.
Q: What are the benefits of applying blockchain technology in the insurance market?
Faster settlement, lower operating costs and greater transparency. Transactions that now take days or weeks across multiple intermediaries can be handled efficiently on a shared ledger that all parties can verify.
That reduces friction, shortens payment cycles and frees up capital that would otherwise sit idle. It also simplifies administration and makes the balance sheet more productive.
Q: Which areas of the insurance industry could benefit most?
Mid-sized insurers and MGAs benefit where cash collection is slow and capital is tied up for months.
Lloyd’s and the London specialty market stand out because they combine high volumes, complex settlement chains and large amounts of capital tied up in receivables.
In both cases, there is an opportunity to turn delayed receivables into working capital sooner.
What role can real-time data and settlement play?
They give insurers a level of visibility and control they often lack today. Issues in a receivables portfolio only become clear at month-end or quarter-end.
Real-time settlement helps reduce delays and outstanding exposures as they emerge, while real-time data gives a continuous view of portfolio performance.
That brings insurance closer to the standards of more developed mature capital markets.
Why is collaboration so important?
Insurers have the assets. Investors have the capital. Regulators set the framework. Infrastructure connects them.
This only works if all four move together around common standards. That is how every major asset class reached institutional scale. Insurance is at that same inflection point now.
