A new paper explores how Bitcoin could transform the way we manage personal life insurance. Namely, the blockchain could provide a global, secure and public record of personal health information. In a 51-page report, the research group Long Finance described a range of potential areas where the blockchain could come in handy in the insurance sector. The London-based initiative “holds hope” that these applications could aid consumers. From August to November, the Z/Yen Group asked financial service professionals, cryptography experts, and regulators about the blockchain's “potential relevance” to insurance. Their insights fill the report. The paper was co-authored by Professor …

Woolly mammoth tusks for sale, dark web drug drama, blockchain-based Internet of Things project—Bitcoin is rife with astonishing news. Enter Genecoin. The developers of the mysterious project have proposed storing DNA on the blockchain. Storing DNA with Bitcoin sounds especially odd to people who aren't familiar with Bitcoin's interesting storage capabilities, and it has generated flush press for that reason. Preserving DNA from generation to generation is an “unreliable” method according to the developers. They're opening the idea, to gauge market interest before they move forward with the project. The developers told Cointelegraph in an email: “We're helping humans transition …

Stories of Bitcoin’s giving new power to developing nations abound – but it’s not all about Africa: Bitcoin also set to provide vital assistance in places you wouldn’t immediately think of. In the tiny Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland, Belarus and Baltic, a pioneering project is underway to revolutionize medical care for the elderly population. Dr. Igor Viktorovich Morozov is the medical director of Varezhkino Manor, a care home located in quiet countryside an hour outside Kaliningrad city itself. Doctor by day, Morozov is dedicating himself to setting up the area’s first dedicated facility for Alzheimer’s, a disease …