Ant Financial has been secretly experimenting with blockchain technology applications. The Alibaba financial affiliate has sent out nearly 600,000 blockchain electronic medical bills to patients over the past two weeks, according to Sina (in Chinese).
According to Ant Financial’s blockchain expert Yang Xueqing, the true value of blockchain medical e-bills is that it can prevent multiple reimbursement scams—re-submit a claim and be reimbursed multiple times. The difference between a blockchain e-bill and an ordinary one is that blockchain e-bills can keep a ledger of billing records that is trackable, irreversible and cannot be tampered with. Thus, it is able to reduce fraud cases like “double dipping” in medical billing. Blockchain e-billing is most suitable for use for high-frequency transactions like in medical billing.
Medical e-bill is just one of the applications of the consortium chain that Alibaba has been focusing on. As understood, the nodes on the blockchain network include hospitals, local finance bureau, social security bureau, information security solutions company Aisino Corporation, and Alipay.
Ant Financial considers blockchain technology as one of the five key technologies—Blockchain, AI, Security, IoT, and Computing (dubbed “BASIC”)—which will dominate every industry in the near future.
CEO Jing Xiandong previously at multiple occasions expressed his strong interest in blockchain-based fintech solutions. Jing said Ant Financial has been working on blockchain solutions with rigid demand—including tracing and tracking of charity donations, issuance payment, goods, tenancy agreement, and cross-border payments.
Ant Financial launched a blockchain-based cross-border remittance service in June, which is capable of sending money from Hong Kong to the Philippines in less 3 seconds. Ant financial said it is working with local partners to expand the service globally.
In June, the fintech giant raised $14 billion in what was said to be the biggest-ever single fundraising globally by a private company, which it said will be used to boost blockchain development.