Ernst & Young, one of the leading accounting firms, has unveiled a groundbreaking solution called EY OpsChain Contract Manager (OCM), which utilizes zero-knowledge proofs on the Ethereum blockchain. The purpose of this solution is to assist private businesses in efficiently executing complex contracts while ensuring confidentiality and cost-effectiveness, according to a statement released by the firm on April 17.
Various types of contracts can benefit from EY’s Ethereum-based solution, including purchase agreements, standardized rate cards, volume discounts, rebates, and strike prices. EY’s decision to utilize the public Ethereum blockchain instead of a private network is motivated by the desire to prevent any party from gaining an unfair advantage and to minimize the risk of sensitive business information leakage.
The development of OCM was prompted by EY’s recognition, through previous client work, that contract accuracy could be improved while reducing cycle times and administration costs by around 90% and 40% respectively, as highlighted by Paul Brody, EY Global Blockchain Leader.
The solution was officially launched at the annual EY Global Blockchain Summit on April 17. In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Celisa Morin, a former executive at Grayscale, observed that traditional financial institutions have increasingly favored public blockchains over private ones in recent months, with BlackRock’s BUIDL serving as a prime example.
OCM has been in development since at least September 2021, when Ernst & Young partnered with Polygon to construct its blockchain enterprise product. Polygon later assisted EY in developing Nightfall, an Ethereum-based enterprise solution for private transactions, in December 2021. However, there is no mention of Polygon in EY’s latest product information sheet for OCM.
Ernst & Young first began experimenting with zero-knowledge proofs in April 2019 as part of its efforts to build a blockchain-based platform for audit, tax, and transaction monitoring. Ethereum has consistently been the firm’s preferred blockchain for development purposes.
In late September, the company announced a $1.4 billion investment in AI technologies for its EY.ai platform. The platform aims to facilitate the adoption of AI by businesses through EY’s proprietary large language model, EY AI EYQ.
In conclusion, Ethereum continues to make significant strides in various industries, solidifying its position as a transformative technology with vast potential.