A benefit society, fraternal benefit society or fraternal benefit order is a society, an organization or a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief from sundry difficulties.
A blockchain cannot provide insurance as it is traditionally known, but could easily create a community of individuals who help one another when they face difficulties. These difficulties can be a wide range of things.
We live in a society where most good people standby and do nothing to help those who are the victim of state violence. This includes those who are punished for victimless crimes or laws that violate the constitution or other basic human rights. Few people are willing to stand up to the government because the costs are very high on an individual. If we could only stand together then we would all be protected and regain our freedom.
Typically the way this would work is this, each month members contribute funds to an individualized account that can only be used to reimburse authorized claims by other members. Each member would be allowed to make a claim for at most a multiple of funds contributed derived from the ratio of claims paid out.
The process of making a claim involves making a public request for help and getting the request for help certified by an oracle trusted to verify the facts of the claim. Once the facts are certified other individuals may review the claim and "donate" up to $100 from their locked up funds to cover the claim.
Under this system individuals can only receive benefits if they are a victim, produce verifiable evidence, and have the support of a large number of independent users who individually transfer funds from user to user.
I would start this system for five classes of users:
1. Those who are accused of possessing illegal substances but have not actually harmed anyone
2. Those who are accused of traffic violations for behavior that did not harm anyone
3. Those who are accused of copyright violation
4. Those who are accused of participating in prostitution that did not harm anyone and where no children are involved.
5. Those who have their assets seized
In all cases we presume innocence and believe that the accused deserve a fair defense.
This is a unique product that could easily be codified in smart contracts and provide real world utility that does not exist elsewhere.
This is also a controversial product that would generate a lot of media attention and attract people who might not otherwise care about crypto currency.
So the question is, how much would you contribute each month to join a community of people united in defense against government attacks on peaceful individuals?
If all funds / accounting were done using BTS then the amount you can get paid out will dramatically increase as adoption grows. The locked up funds would take BTS out of circulation until a claim was made. It could get very interesting very quickly.
Thoughts?