EY releases zero-knowledge proof blockchain transaction technology to the public domain

EY announced that it will release its zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) private transaction protocol into the public domain to help accelerate the adoption of secure, private transactions over public blockchains.

For most enterprises and investors, the inability to conduct secure private transactions has been a major obstacle to fully embracing public blockchain networks.

EY unveiled this first-of-its-kind technology in October 2018 at Ethereum Devcon in Prague. The initial prototype was a version of EY Ops Chain, an EY flagship blockchain business application platform adapted for use on the public Ethereum blockchain.

The prototype included a sample supply chain model built in the public Ethereum network using the private transaction technology and a challenge to developers and hackers to find flaws in the encryption and unmask the private information. Since the original solution debut, EY teams have worked to improve performance of the solution based on ZKPs.

"Making public blockchains secure and scalable is a priority for EY. The fastest way to spread this privacy-enhancing technology was to make it public. The gold standard in security is only achieved with the kind of intense review and testing that comes with public domain releases," Paul Brody, EY Global Innovation Leader, Blockchain.

EY will now release this technology into the public domain. The main component allows for secure, private transfers and payments on the public Ethereum network. This supports fungible token payments compatible with the ERC-20 standard and unique asset transfers compatible with the ERC-721 standard. The ERC standards are publicly accepted open standards for tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.