IP Ventures, Korean insurer eyeing regional blockchain network

Local investment holding firm IP Ventures Inc. (IPVI) and top Korean life insurer Hanwha Life Insurance have signed a cooperation framework to establish a regional blockchain network, boosting efforts to propagate this emergent distributed ledger technology, particularly in the Philippines.

Based on their memorandum of understanding, IPVI and Hanwha aim to link their ecosystems to create a larger network that will tap the potentials and opportunities in distributed ledger technology across industries.

“Blockchain technology has proven its vaunted capability to transform the fundamentals of existing work processes and business models. Hanwha is looking forward to further advance the long-term integration of blockchain solutions in digital business processes in the region and we are proud to partner with IP Ventures in our initiative—newly launched brand ‘Upground’ which is a Pan-Asia blockchain hub—to propagate blockchain technology particularly in the Philippines,” said Jong Choon Park, vice president of Hanwha Life Insurance.

IP Ventures chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez said: “IPVI and Hanwha aim to link each other’s ecosystems to create a larger regional network that will utilize distributed ledger technology.”
The deal allows Hanwha to share across the region its achievements in fostering the fintech (financial technology) ecosystem in Korea, including initiatives within the blockchain technology space. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA