During this year's EY Global Blockchain Summit, a host of intriguing new developments were introduced by EY's blockchain unit, prominently featuring their forthcoming publication the open-source release of Nightfall — a zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) protocol for private transactions designed to help businesses take advantage of the public Ethereum blockchain.
As a major player in the world of accounting, EY has established a robust blockchain team recently, so it's no wonder they had the foresight and capability to create such Nightfall What truly stands out is the company’s decision to offer the privacy protocol openly to the public next month, pending its final code review.
Paul Brody, who leads blockchain innovation at EY, explained that the unusual step was taken to accelerate the adoption of public blockchains in the present:
\"Our top priority at EY is the security and scalability of public blockchains. Making this privacy-forward technology openly available was the fastest route . Only rigorous public domain scrutiny can establish the gold standard in security.\"
Leveraging its ZKP technology, Nightfall will enable companies to keep transaction details — such as amounts sent — confidential on the public Ethereum blockchain, potentially easing businesses into the public blockchain realm beyond private, permissioned networks.
According to EY's statement, \"Firms will still be able to furnish complete traceability and transaction records to auditors and regulators while keeping broader transaction details discreet.\"
Brody, along with his colleagues in the blockchain domain at EY, see Nightfall paving the way for enterprises to apply Ethereum-based ERC-721 non-fungible tokens (NFTs, a la CryptoKitties ) into their business operations.
These tokens, which can be linked to physical items, could revolutionize supply chain processes, and EY’s Nightfall ensures both privacy and audit access for these tokens simultaneously.
EY Boosts Analyzers
On April 16th, EY further announced the rollout of EY Smart Contract Analyzer and the second version of the EY Blockchain Analyzer .
Living up to its name, the Smart Contract Analyzer provides a suite of tools for users to evaluate the security of Ethereum smart contracts.
This week, a new portal for trading between fiat and crypto with Dai, DAIHard , faced severe vulnerabilities within its untested software, ending in a whitehat hacker salvaging all funds. More instances like these might be averted thanks to EY's new tool for testing smart contracts, as the company highlighted:
\"EY has developed a suite of over 250 standardized tests encompassing everything from known malware and programming faults to protocols ensuring that tokens conform to industry norms.\"
Moreover, the accounting giant also introduced the latest iteration of its Blockchain Analyzer, crafted to equip clients with necessary instruments for enterprise-level blockchain operations.
Addressing this, Brody mentioned:
\"Our second-generation EY Blockchain Analyzer is aimed at formulating a comprehensive platform for varied functions such as auditing, taxation, and transaction tracking, based on client requirements.\"
EY Ops Chain 2.0 Goes Live
In addition, EY launched a revamped version of its EY Ops Chain and offered the original version to the open-source community.
Per EY, the software, which is essentially a business-oriented blockchain application, “enables organizations to represent their workflows on blockchain systems using digital tokens and smart contracts.”
According to EY, Ops Chain could drastically enhance the efficiency of certain business processes, potentially cutting time by up to 90 percent.
The initial version of this technology has already assisted in tokenizing over 11 million wine bottles. Should EY succeed, these bottles could herald a broader movement towards tokenization.
