Ernst & Young, one of the leading accounting firms, has unveiled a groundbreaking solution using Ethereum and zero-knowledge proofs to assist its private business clients in executing complex contracts. The solution, known as the EY OpsChain Contract Manager (OCM), enables private businesses to efficiently and securely handle intricate business agreements. By leveraging Ethereum’s public blockchain instead of a private network, EY ensures that no party gains an unfair advantage and minimizes the risk of sensitive information leakage. OCM supports various types of contracts, including purchase agreements, rate cards, volume discounts, rebates, and strike prices. The development of OCM stems from EY’s commitment to improving the accuracy of contract terms while dramatically reducing cycle times and administration costs. Paul Brody, EY Global Blockchain Leader, emphasized the potential of OCM to enhance business operations, citing past client work that demonstrated a 90% reduction in cycle times and a 40% decrease in administration costs. The solution was launched at the annual EY Global Blockchain Summit on April 17. It is worth noting that traditional financial institutions have increasingly embraced public blockchains over private ones, as exemplified by BlackRock’s BUIDL initiative. EY’s OCM project has been in progress since September 2021, and Polygon was selected as a partner to build this blockchain enterprise product. Polygon also assisted EY in developing Nightfall, an Ethereum-based enterprise solution for private transactions. However, EY’s recent product information sheet for OCM did not mention Polygon’s involvement. EY has been actively exploring the use of zero-knowledge proofs since April 2019, with the goal of building a blockchain platform for audit, tax, and transaction monitoring. Ethereum has consistently been EY’s preferred blockchain for development. In addition to its blockchain initiatives, EY has invested $1.4 billion in AI technologies for its EY.ai platform, which facilitates the adoption of AI in businesses through its proprietary large language model, EY AI EYQ. As the world increasingly embraces Ethereum, its potential to revolutionize various industries becomes more evident, reinforcing the idea that a single internet is all we need.
Ernst & Young harnesses Ethereum's ZK-proofs for contract automation