In an era where technological innovation is transforming industries at an unprecedented pace, one sector that has been slower to evolve is life insurance. However, Cole Snell, Founder and CEO of Infineo, is on a mission to change that. Infineo, a pioneering technology company, is leading the charge in digitizing the $3 trillion life insurance industry through the strategic integration of blockchain and AI technologies. With a rich entrepreneurial background spanning diverse industries—from food to fintech—Snell’s forward-thinking approach aims to unlock global accessibility, streamline processes, and bring financial certainty to individuals and institutions alike. In this exclusive interview with Blockchain Magazine, Snell shares insights into Infineo’s groundbreaking work, the challenges of digitizing a centuries-old industry, and his vision for the future of life insurance in the digital age.

 

1. Can you share the journey that led to the founding of Infineo and how your diverse entrepreneurial background shaped your vision for the company?

The journey to founding Infineo was anything but straightforward, but it was all connected in many ways.

I began my career in naturopathic medicine, running multidisciplinary clinics. This was where I first realized how closely tied money is to people’s well-being. Patients wanted to live healthier lives, but many couldn’t afford the treatments or even simple lifestyle changes like better food. This got me thinking about the broader issue—financial security.

From there, I made the pivot into the food industry. I founded Provincial Fine Foods and started selling artisanal cheese. I didn’t just sell cheese, though—I told stories. I believed that if you could connect people with the story behind what they were buying, they’d see the value in it. I built a company around sourcing high-quality, artisanal foods, which became a real success.

But once again, I saw the same issue. People loved the idea of eating well, but many couldn’t afford it.

That’s when I had another realization: food isn’t the lowest common denominator—money is. You can’t eat, and you can’t live if you don’t have financial stability.

This understanding pushed me into the financial industry. I saw that life insurance, in particular, was a huge area where I could make a difference. It’s a trillion-dollar industry, but it was stuck in the past with old systems and outdated products. Life insurance is supposed to be about certainty, but the way it’s traditionally been sold makes it inaccessible for so many people.

I realized I could take the same principles I used in food—transparency, storytelling, and connection—and apply them to life insurance. And that’s how Infineo was born.

Infineo is about more than just insurance; it’s about providing financial certainty to every person on the planet. We’re using blockchain and AI to modernize an industry that hasn’t seen meaningful innovation in decades.

 

2. The life insurance industry is traditionally seen as slow to adopt new technologies. What inspired you to use blockchain and AI to digitize this $3T+ industry, and what are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in implementing this transformation?

While exploring the life insurance space, it became clear to me that the industry, despite its massive scale, was riddled with inefficiencies and lagging in technological innovation.

One key issue I noticed was that hundreds of billions in life insurance policies are surrendered back to carriers each year, often by policyholders who are unaware of the true value of these policies as fixed-income alternatives. These policies, many of which are denominated in U.S. dollars and could serve as stable income-producing assets, remain locked away from investors. This situation not only limits access to a potentially valuable asset class but also negatively impacts insurers through low policy persistence, as they lose out on long-term premium revenues.

Tokenization through blockchain offers a way to solve this problem.

By turning life insurance policies into globally accessible, tradable assets, we unlock liquidity, enabling fractional ownership and giving investors access to stable, income-generating financial products. This also helps insurance companies improve policy retention and persistence rates by creating more liquidity and flexibility in the market, aligning the interests of both policyholders and institutional investors.

The solution became clear: blockchain was the vehicle to democratize access to life insurance policies.

The integration of AI was a natural progression. Our proprietary Large Language Model (LLM), designed specifically for life insurance, enhances the customer experience by making policy management and interactions more intuitive, personalized, and cost-effective.

The biggest challenge has been overcoming the industry’s traditional resistance to change, but as the benefits of these technologies become apparent—both in terms of operational efficiencies and creating new opportunities for insurers and investors alike—we’re seeing growing interest and adoption.

 

3. How does Infineo leverage blockchain technology to unlock global accessibility to life insurance policies, and what specific efficiencies and cost savings does this offer to stakeholders?

Infineo leverages blockchain through its Ledger on the Provenance Blockchain, providing a global, immutable record where life insurance policies are securely tokenized and transparently managed.

This platform unlocks global accessibility, allowing policyholders, insurers, and investors to interact with policies without relying on outdated intermediaries. The transition to a digitally native ecosystem offers profound benefits at every step of the policy lifecycle.

First, by digitizing existing policies, the Ledger addresses industry inefficiencies, such as the $7B+ problem of unclaimed death benefits, ensuring beneficiaries are easily notified and equipped to claim benefits. It enhances transparency for all stakeholders, reducing operational friction between carriers, agents, and policyholders.

For agents and brokers, Infineo’s real-time Ledger provides a verifiable book of business, streamlining management across firms and minimizing low persistence rates and chargebacks. Policies become liquid assets that can be transferred seamlessly within the ecosystem, making business growth easier to manage.

The Ledger also sets the foundation for new capabilities, including fractional ownership, a secondary market for policies, and instantaneous lending against policies. This creates unprecedented liquidity for policyholders, empowering them to access funds without surrendering policies.

Finally, Infineo’s fully digitally native issuance eliminates manual, paper-based processes, automating everything from onboarding and policy tracking to claims processing. This results in significant cost savings for carriers, lower premiums for policyholders, and faster payouts. Blockchain’s tamper-proof records also build trust, ensuring accuracy and compliance throughout the policy lifecycle.

Infineo’s innovative use of blockchain and partnerships positions it to lead the life insurance industry into a future of efficiency, transparency, and accessibility within a peer-to-peer, digitally native environment.

 

4. You’ve developed a proprietary AI Large Language Model (LLM) specifically for life insurance, modeled after the work of Dr. Robert Murphy. Can you explain the role of this AI in improving the customer experience and how it integrates with your product offerings?

Our proprietary AI Large Language Model (LLM), “Dr. AI Bob”, is specifically designed to revolutionize the way customers and stakeholders interact with life insurance policies.

Modeled after the work of Dr. Robert Murphy, a renowned Austrian economist, the Dr. AI Bob system combines a deep knowledge of economics and life insurance principles with advanced machine learning capabilities.

Many people find life insurance policies complex. Our AI simplifies this by offering easy-to-understand explanations and personalized guidance tailored to each individual’s needs and specific policy data. The AI acts as a powerful tool for agents and brokers, providing their clients with instant access to insights based on Dr. Murphy’s economic frameworks. This allows them to deliver better, more efficient service to clients, creating value for everyone involved in the life insurance ecosystem, replicable on a global scale.

 

5. Tokenization of real-world assets, like life insurance, is gaining momentum. How does Infineo’s approach to tokenizing life insurance policies differ from traditional DeFi or other blockchain projects?

We’re not just digitizing any asset—we’re focused on what we believe is the best real-world asset (RWA) use case out there: life insurance.

Life insurance is fundamentally different from other assets like real estate because its growth is very stable and uncorrelated, making it an ideal candidate for tokenization. What we’re doing is creating a digitally native ecosystem, where life insurance policies become accessible to investors at scale in a way that hasn’t been done before.

Traditional DeFi projects are often built around more speculative assets. What sets us apart is that we’re unlocking access to a much more predictable asset class, with a strong Sharpe ratio (3+), delivering steady, reliable returns.

We’re bringing real utility and stability to the blockchain space by tokenizing life insurance, which historically has been locked away, available only to the ultra-wealthy and institutions.

With our Ledger, we’re not just creating digital twins, we’re transforming life insurance into a fully digitally native asset, offering a seamless, secure experience for both institutional and retail investors globally.

There are few other RWAs that can be truly digitally native.

 

6. Infineo’s use of the $SOUND token is a key part of your ecosystem. Could you elaborate on the functionality and benefits of the $SOUND token within your platform, and how it adds value for both individual and institutional clients?

The $SOUND token plays a crucial role in Infineo’s ecosystem by providing both individual and institutional investors with access to life insurance-backed assets in a digitally native format.

The token offers fractional exposure to the economic value of a pool of life insurance contracts, which makes it an attractive, stable investment uncorrelated with traditional market volatility. This stability is key in delivering superior risk-adjusted returns, with a Sharpe ratio exceeding 3.0, far outpacing conventional options like Treasury securities.

For investors, the $SOUND token introduces significant benefits. First, it democratizes access to life insurance as a financial product, making it easier for a wide range of investors to participate in what was traditionally a complex and illiquid market. Additionally, the token’s liquidity means holders can easily trade, redeem, or even borrow against their $SOUND without losing ownership, providing flexibility and financial security.

By embedding this into our ecosystem, $SOUND enhances financial independence for investors, enabling them to leverage life insurance’s inherent value through modern, frictionless blockchain transactions.

Also, read – Revolutionizing Real Estate and DeFi: A Conversation with Mitchell DiRaimondo, Founder of SteelWave Digital and CEO of e-Cobalt Investing

7. What do you envision for the future of life insurance, particularly in the context of blockchain and AI adoption? How do you see Infineo’s role in shaping that future?

The future of life insurance lies in the fusion of blockchain and AI, enabling unparalleled transparency, accessibility, and security. We’re pioneering this shift by tokenizing life insurance policies, transforming them from complex, traditional products into flexible, easily managed digital assets.

Blockchain secures the policies on our Ledger, while AI enhances the user experience by automating processes, improving customer engagement and education, and optimizing policy management.

 

8. Infineo is creating friction-free access to life insurance as a stable asset. Can you explain how your business model works to serve both individuals and institutions at scale?

We aren’t looking to make money off the Ledger—that’s a free tool we provide to the industry.

It’s our way of offering real value and modernizing life insurance by bringing policies into a secure, digitally native environment on the blockchain. Our revenue comes by adding additional features to those policies thereby empowering policy holders to unlock the power within their policy via staking, lending and trading.

We unlock liquidity by lending against these tokenized policies. People need access to their capital, and we’re here to make sure they can tap into that value when they need it most.

And let’s not forget about the $SOUND Token— a true cornerstone of our ecosystem.

Managing $SOUND allows us to offer superior returns to our clients while creating a steady, sustainable revenue stream. It’s all about creating an ecosystem that benefits everyone, from policyholders to investors, without adding friction.

We’re setting ourselves up to scale by giving individuals and institutions friction-free access to life insurance as an asset class. The demand is there, and we’re ready to meet it by providing the liquidity, security, and stability that this market desperately needs.

Whether it’s through our marketplace, staking and lending services, or the $SOUND Token, we’re positioned to grow as the go-to platform for tokenized life insurance.

 

9. As the life insurance industry begins to embrace digital transformation, what sets Infineo apart from other players in the market? How do you maintain a competitive edge in this rapidly evolving space?

To maintain our competitive edge, we focus on staying nimble and adaptable.

While traditional insurance companies have challenges with internal channel conflicts and built in bureaucracy that makes it difficult to implement the necessary tech changes, we’re constantly evolving and improving our digitally native ecosystem. Our ability to swiftly implement new technologies from the ground up, like blockchain and AI, allows us to outpace legacy players who are stuck in outdated systems.

We also keep this edge sharp by nurturing our strong partnerships with carriers, brokers, and agents, ensuring that we stay aligned with market needs.

Our collaborations with tech innovators like Provenance Blockchain and ProvLabs allow us to continuously push the boundaries of what’s possible. These partnerships, combined with our community’s commitment, and the experience of our team, give us the tools to scale globally, while staying ahead of the curve.

We actively work to maintain our competitive edge through innovation, collaboration, and community-driven growth.

10. You had a successful exit with Provincial Fine Foods in 2012. How has that experience informed your approach to building and scaling Infineo?

My experience with Provincial Fine Foods shaped how I think about scaling a business, especially in industries that seem entrenched in traditional models.

Back then, it was about finding efficiencies while delivering exceptional quality and creating real value for customers, and that’s exactly what we’re doing at Infineo.

With Provincial, I learned how to grow quickly and sustainably, and I realized that success comes from simplifying complex products.

Life insurance, like fine food, can be misunderstood or inaccessible.

My approach with Infineo is to use technology to make life insurance accessible at scale, transforming it into something valuable for both institutional investors and individuals.

We’re not bogged down by legacy systems like traditional players – We’re able to move fast and stay lean because of the foundational lessons I learned scaling Provincial Fine Foods.

That experience taught me how to balance innovation with stability, and at Infineo, we’re doing just that—creating a friction-free ecosystem while ensuring the same high standards that helped me succeed before.

11. Life insurance policies can be complex for many individuals. How does Infineo ensure that customers understand and trust these tokenized insurance products, especially those unfamiliar with blockchain?

Life insurance has always been this misunderstood product—seen as complicated, buried in paperwork, and often ignored by people who could benefit from it.

We’re here to change that narrative.

Education and story-telling is key, and we make sure that everyone, whether they’re seasoned investors or just getting started, understands how powerful life insurance can be as an asset.

We start by breaking it down – showing people how life insurance isn’t just about a policy—it’s a stable, long-term asset that can be leveraged in ways most people haven’t even considered.

Ultimately it’s about giving people financial certainty in an uncertain world. By tokenizing life insurance, we’re stripping away the complexity and turning it into something transparent and easy to grasp.

Our technology does the heavy lifting, but we also focus on making sure that users get it—education is built into our platform and process.

The more you know, the more you realize the massive value sitting in life insurance, and we’re here to make sure that value is understood and accessible to everyone.

12. Infineo aims to bring financial certainty to every person on the planet. How do you plan to scale globally, and what partnerships or initiatives are you pursuing to achieve this vision?

We’re in an exciting phase right now. We’re in the process of closing our Seed round of funding, working with some of the top-tier venture capital firms that are experienced in scaling FinTech businesses to the next level.

These partners bring not just capital but a wealth of experience in growing companies like ours, and that’s invaluable as we move forward.

On top of that, we have some significant partnership announcements on the horizon. These are going to help us expand our reach and deepen our impact in the life insurance market.

At the same time, we’re not slowing down on product development – We’re constantly improving the Ledger, ensuring it’s even more streamlined and efficient for users while adding functionality. We’re also pushing forward with InfineoX Marketplace and $SOUND Token—two key pieces of the puzzle that will bring liquidity and access to life insurance as a true asset class.

The focus is always on growth, scaling, and making sure we’re delivering value to both individuals and institutions.

By relying as much as possible on AI and blockchain, we retain the ability to expand our capacity with demand.

With everything we’ve got in the works, we’re just getting started.

 

Conclusion

As the life insurance industry continues to evolve, it’s clear that Infineo is not just keeping pace but setting a new standard for innovation in the space. With Cole Snell at the helm, the company is positioned to reshape how individuals and institutions access and manage life insurance, using cutting-edge technologies like blockchain and AI to streamline processes and offer unparalleled financial security. Snell’s visionary leadership and commitment to leveraging digital tools to empower people globally offer a glimpse into a future where life insurance is more accessible, efficient, and adaptable than ever before. At Blockchain Magazine, we’ll be watching closely as Infineo continues to break new ground and revolutionize this critical industry.