Lubavitchers Win Coinbase Finance Award

Shortly after his first child was born, Yehuda Kirsh bought life insurance. But the 35-year-old businessman knew he was the exception, not the rule.

“In the US, nearly half of households don’t have life insurance,” he says. Outside the US, it’s even harder to stay afloat after a breadwinner dies. “Expensive premiums, volatile economies, you name it. Billions of people have no reliable way to leave a safety net for their families.”

Instead, grieving families often go into a cycle of added stress, shame and sadness—working extra jobs, asking for community help or selling cherished belongings.

As a member of a community life coverage pool, Kirsh recognized the power of a free-to-join membership that pitched in a few dollars only when another member died. But how do you scale the kind of trust required to vet members and verify claims in a global community?

Assembling a small team of actuarial, development and legal experts, Kirsh created DeSure, a member-owned life coverage pool using Smart Contracts to verify and fund safety nets.

“It’s a natural use case for how blockchain and smart contracts technology actually change the game,” he says.

In December, the group submitted their idea to the Coinbase Breakthrough Challenge, a competition to find “ways to use blockchain technology that address critical global issues.” With over 73 million users, Coinbase is one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, processing over $1.4 trillion in transactions per year.

Among 350 contestants, DeSure advanced to the final round of 11 and was invited to a live pitching event with Coinbase executives.

Two days later, the team was awarded the Financial Inclusion Award for their goal of expanding the accessibility and affordability of safety nets.

“The judges were fascinated as we described how community support is applied in our own Chassidic community. Their questions about how we are building the actual protocol to leverage total transparency and verifiability as the technology matures was equally validating.”

DeSure recently opened its waiting list and plans, G-d willing, to launch the protocol and issue the DeSure Token in late 2022.

To join the waitlist: www.DeSure.com.