Ernst & Young (EY), one of the renowned “Big Four” in the audit and accounting sector, announced an significant innovation in business contract management. The company has introduced a solution that allows customers to integrate contracts into a public blockchain, ensuring the confidentiality of business information through zero-knowledge technology.
This new service, called OpsChain Contract Manager, initially operates on the Ethereum blockchain. However, interestingly, the actual implementation takes place on Polygon Proof-of-Stake (PoS), an independent network known for its efficiency and low transaction costs.
The idea of using public blockchains for business operations is not new, but we are finally seeing a practical application that solves real privacy and cost problems,” explained Paul Brody, leader of the blockchain arm. blockchain from EY since 2016. In a recent interview, Brody shared his vision on the future of blockchain technology for large companies, emphasizing the superiority of public blockchains over private ones in terms of privacy.
In addition to Nightfall, EY also developed Starlight, a zero-knowledge compiler that transforms existing smart contracts into private versions through hashing techniques. These innovations align with Brody's vision that enterprise blockchain applications will significantly benefit from the use of public blockchains such as Ethereum and now, by extension, Polygon.
EY's adoption of Polygon PoS is strategic, as in addition to reducing costs, it also sets the stage for an eventual transition from Nightfall to the Ethereum mainnet and a future layer 3 in the next system update.
Business users have gravitated toward using Polygon due to its remarkably low transaction costs, a crucial consideration for enterprise-scale applications.
“This new system not only increases transparency in business operations but also utilizes robust infrastructure that is already in place, significantly reducing costs for businesses,” Brody added.
