EY launches secure private transactions over Ethereum public blockchain

• The zero-knowledge proof technology lowers barriers to blockchain adoption
• This solution enables a full traceability trail of private transactions

EY ON Nov 1 announced the launch of EY Ops Chain Public Edition (PE) prototype, the world’s first implementation of zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology on the public Ethereum blockchain.

This technology is a first that will allow companies to privately and securely create and sell product and service tokens on a public blockchain with private access to their transaction records.

EY Ops Chain PE uses ZKP technology to enable private token transfers without breaking the consensus algorithm.

This solution is the result of extensive research by the EY blockchain labs in London and Paris – with patents pending – and supports both payment tokens and unique product and services tokens that are similar to the Ethereum ERC-20 and ERC-721 token standards.

This follows the April 2017 launch of EY Ops Chain, a set of applications and services aimed at helping organizations commercialize the use of blockchain technology across the enterprise.

Paul Brody, EY Global Innovation leader, Blockchain, says, “EY Ops chain PE is a first-of-its-kind application and a major step forward that empowers blockchain adoption. Private blockchains give enterprises transaction privacy, but at the expense of reduced security and resiliency. With zero-knowledge proofs, organisations can transact on the same network as their competition in complete privacy and without giving up the security of the public Ethereum blockchain.”

With a market capitalisation of approximately US$20 billion and millions of users and investors, the public Ethereum blockchain dwarfs any private blockchain in operation.

Public blockchains are typically viewed as offering greater security and liquidity than private systems and become more powerful as more companies join.

“The biggest challenge for enterprises’ blockchain adoption is the ability to on-board business partners into their private or consortium blockchain network. Using the standard, secure infrastructure of a public blockchain while keeping their transactions private, businesses greatly reduce the expensive and time consuming process of setting up private networks and on-boarding business partners one at a time,” says Brody.

James Wester, research director, Worldwide Blockchain Strategies, IDC, says, “The development of tools that enhance the capabilities of public blockchains will spur enterprise adoption of public blockchains and are crucial to the growth of blockchain technologies in general. The ability to ensure privacy while retaining the security and resilience of public blockchains is an important consideration. It offers an opportunity for enterprises to begin building real-world solutions on public blockchains and is an important step in the evolution of the technology.”

In addition, this solution includes the EY Blockchain Private Transaction Monitor prototype that captures transaction history for later review.

EY is developing a release roadmap for EY Ops Chain PE and the EY Blockchain Private Transaction Monitor that will aim to improve transaction efficiency and scalability in time for a production offering in 2019.