Smartphone theft is at a crisis point. Over 446,000 handheld devices are stolen every year, equating to 1,222 phones per day. Our devices are more expensive to insure than ever and the global mobile phone insurance market is expected to be worth more than $40 billion by 2025. That’s why Lox’s mission is to better control smartphone thefts by creating the world’s first decentralized security network, giving the power back to smartphone owners rather than wireless carriers or other third parties. The Challenges: Siloed Data, Proof-of-ownership, and Data-sharing Wireless device data is locked behind silos, allowing stolen phones to be sold on the black market with ease. This makes it very difficult to retrieve information from your device such as where it comes from, its previous owners, and purchase dates. Essentially, your smartphone data, even though you own it, is very hard to acquire. Network providers don’t help the situation either, as they operate in silos and aren’t keen on sharing any device information with users, insurers, or law enforcement. Furthermore, insurers often struggle to send the right information to owners. Say, for example, you buy your new smartphone from a well-known high-street retailer, but you insure it with another provider. If your phone is stolen, your insurer will need the relevant information from your network provider, but your network provider won’t release this data until receiving proof of o...
