Pixels → Proofs for Property Insurance

COPE, Regulation, and Verifiable Credentials

1. Mapping Pixels → Proofs to COPE Property Underwriting

COPE already describes what matters.
Proofs describe how it’s verified.

C — Construction

Traditional (pixels & assertions):

• Builder declarations
• PDFs of compliance certificates
• Photos of materials
• Age inferred from documents

Proof-based underwriting:

• Building DID issued at construction
• Construction VC signed by:
  • Licensed builder
  • Certifier / surveyor
• Claims include:
  • Material type (brick, concrete, timber)
  • Fire resistance rating
  • Year built / last major renovation
  • Australian Standards references

Result:
Construction risk becomes verifiable state, not self-report.

O — Occupancy

Traditional:

• Proposal form checkboxes
• Annual declarations
• Claims-time discovery

Proof-based:

• Occupancy VC issued by:
  • Owner
  • Property manager
  • Registered operator (e.g. aged care)
• Time-bound credentials:
  • Residential
  • Commercial
  • Mixed-use
  • Vacant
• Updated automatically on change

Result:
Occupancy risk is continuously verified, not periodically guessed.

P — Protection

Traditional:

• Photos of alarms and sprinklers
• Invoices
• Trust-based declarations

Proof-based:

• Protection VCs issued by:
  • Fire services
  • Alarm installers
  • IoT providers
• Includes:
  • Alarm type
  • Monitoring status
  • Maintenance validity
  • Last test timestamp

Result:
Protection becomes active assurance, not static evidence.

E — Exposure

Traditional:

• Postcode-level catastrophe models
• Static flood maps
• Manual peril overlays

Proof-based:

• Exposure proofs derived from:
  • Geospatial hazard registries
  • Weather oracle attestations
  • Council zoning credentials
• Anchored at underwriting time
• Re-verified dynamically

Result:
Exposure becomes explainable, auditable, and contestable.

COPE Summary Table

2. Regulator-Facing Explainer

Why Proof-Based Insurance Improves Consumer Protection

Audience: Regulators, prudential bodies, policy makers

The Problem Regulators Face

• Increasing fraud via synthetic documents
• Growing opacity in AI-driven decisions
• Manual audits that don’t scale
• Data retention and privacy risk
• Disputes over evidence authenticity

Visual evidence is no longer reliable in an AI world.

The Shift: From Documents to Verifiable Claims

A proof-based insurance system replaces:

• Trust in documents
• Trust in platforms
• Trust in internal processes

With:

• Trust in cryptographic verification
• Independent issuer accountability
• Deterministic decision logic

What Changes for the Regulator

• Every underwriting decision is reproducible
• Every claim decision is auditable
• Every proof has a known issuer
• Every verification step is logged
• No reliance on opaque AI judgement

AI assists — but never invents evidence.

Consumer Protection Benefits

• Fewer disputes (“show me the proof”)
• Faster claims settlement
• Reduced data exposure
• Clear appeal paths
• Portable credentials across insurers

Regulatory Alignment

Proof-based insurance directly supports:

• Risk-based supervision
• Model transparency
• Data minimisation
• Accountability of decision-makers
• Cross-border interoperability

This is not deregulation — it is stronger enforcement by design.

3. Verifiable Credential (VC) Schemas + JSON Examples

3.1 Property DID (Root Identity)

{ “@context”: [“https://www.w3.org/2018/credentials/v1”], “type”: [“VerifiableCredential”, “PropertyIdentity”], “issuer”: “did:web:landregistry.gov.au”, “credentialSubject”: { “id”: “did:property:au:nsw:lot12345”, “address”: { “street”: “123 Example St”, “city”: “Sydney”, “state”: “NSW”, “postcode”: “2000”, “country”: “AU” } } }

3.2 Construction VC

{ “type”: [“VerifiableCredential”, “ConstructionCredential”], “issuer”: “did:web:licensedbuilder.example”, “credentialSubject”: { “id”: “did:property:au:nsw:lot12345”, “constructionType”: “brick”, “roofType”: “metal”, “fireResistanceRating”: “FRL 60/60/60”, “yearBuilt”: 2015, “standards”: [“AS 3959”, “NCC 2019”] } }

3.3 Occupancy VC

{ “type”: [“VerifiableCredential”, “OccupancyCredential”], “issuer”: “did:web:propertymanager.example”, “credentialSubject”: { “id”: “did:property:au:nsw:lot12345”, “occupancyType”: “residential-owner-occupied”, “maxOccupants”: 4 }, “expirationDate”: “2026-06-30T00:00:00Z” }

3.4 Protection VC

{ “type”: [“VerifiableCredential”, “FireProtectionCredential”], “issuer”: “did:web:fireinstaller.example”, “credentialSubject”: { “id”: “did:property:au:nsw:lot12345”, “smokeAlarms”: true, “sprinklerSystem”: false, “lastInspection”: “2025-02-01”, “monitoring”: “24x7” } }

3.5 Claim Event Proof (Weather)

{ “type”: [“VerifiableCredential”, “WeatherEventCredential”], “issuer”: “did:web:meteo.example”, “credentialSubject”: { “location”: “did:property:au:nsw:lot12345”, “eventType”: “hail”, “severity”: “severe”, “eventWindow”: { “from”: “2025-03-10T12:00:00Z”, “to”: “2025-03-10T14:00:00Z” } } }

COPE describes risk. Proofs verify it. Automation settles it.

• APRA Version