In July and August, insurance company Daido Life Insurance is operating a proof of concept (POC) for a Daido Life branded digital currency. The test includes 100 Daido Life employees who will hold the currency in a digital wallet, utilize the money to purchase items, and potentially receive coins based on their behavior.

From the life insurer’s perspective, they are interested in keeping their clients as healthy as possible. So this could serve as an incentive. For instance, the wallet could be linked to a health app, and it might collect coins based on a daily step count.

Eventually, the plan is to test the application of the currency for collecting insurance premiums and benefit payments. The technology associate is DeCurret, which operates a Virtual Currency Exchange, and expects to commercialize its white label digital currency blockchain platform for adoption by other firms. The startup has a total capital of 11.4 billion Yen ($106 million).

Daido Life, a member of the T&D Insurance Group, invested in DeCurret in July 2019 as part of a 3.4 billion Yen ($31 million) financing. In a ‘pseudo’ debt to equity swap in April this year, 2.75 billion Yen ($25 million) of capital was published to Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ), the Japanese ISP, and the company’s largest shareholder. DeCurret’s President and CEO, Kazuhiro Tokita, consumed eight years at IIJ before setting up DeCurret in April 2018.

At the time of the July 2019 fundraising, DeCurret made obvious that it was interested in digital currency, not just virtual currency, the term connected with cryptocurrencies in Japan. Mainly the focus is on the combination of transactions and settlements. Other DeCurret investors incorporate Sumitomo Life Insurance, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, telecoms equipment firm Enecom, telecoms firm KDDI,  gambling, and entertainment company Konami, Chubu Electric, Matsui Securities, security company Alsok, Toppan Printing, and transport conglomerate Hankyu Hanshin Holdings.