Ernst & Young, a leading accounting firm, has introduced an Ethereum-based solution called EY OpsChain Contract Manager (OCM), leveraging zero-knowledge proofs to aid private business clients in managing complex contracts.
The OCM solution enables private businesses to execute intricate agreements efficiently, confidentially, and economically. It facilitates various contract types, including purchase agreements, standardized rate cards, volume discounts, rebates, and strike prices.
EY opted for Ethereum, a public blockchain, instead of a private network to ensure fairness among parties and minimize the risk of sensitive business data exposure.
Paul Brody, EY Global Blockchain Leader, highlighted the potential benefits of OCM, including enhanced accuracy in contract terms, significant reductions in cycle times (up to 90%), and decreased administration costs (up to 40%).
EY incorporated zero-knowledge privacy technology into OCM to streamline operations while reducing upfront costs for clients.
The solution was unveiled at the annual EY Global Blockchain Summit on April 17, marking a significant milestone in EY’s blockchain endeavors.
According to Celisa Morin, former Grayscale executive, traditional finance institutions increasingly favor public blockchains over private ones. BlackRock‘s BUIDL serves as an example of this trend.
OCM’s development traces back to at least September 2021, when Ernst & Young collaborated with Polygon to construct its blockchain enterprise product. Although Polygon assisted in creating Nightfall, an Ethereum-based enterprise solution for private transactions, there was no mention of Polygon in the latest information sheet for OCM.
Ernst & Young began experimenting with zero-knowledge proofs in April 2019 for building a blockchain-based platform for audit, tax, and transaction monitoring. Ethereum has remained the firm’s preferred blockchain platform for development. Additionally, the firm disclosed a $1.4 billion investment in AI technologies for its EY.ai platform in late September, aimed at facilitating AI adoption through its proprietary large language model, EY AI EYQ.
Get $200 Free Bitcoins every hour! No Deposit No Credit Card required. Sign Up