is it time to industrialize blockchain? - ernst & young · 2018-07-24 · 2 is it time to...

Is it time to industrialize blockchain?Unlocking the potential of blockchain across organizations

2 | Is it time to industrialize blockchain?

Databases are integral to all industries, and typically, organizations having their own databases and associated systems, govern us. Whether it is banking, health care or telecommunications, there are systems in place, governing our actions and responses. However, the only means of ensuring the veracity of the data in such databases, is to have a trusted middleman who can act as the bridge. The reality is, while the idea of middlemen may not be appealing, they are essential for seamless transactions to happen. For instance, if we cast a casual eye at the global supply chain, we would see that it is a set of extensive systems with several product components moving across a network of connected and reliable intermediaries. However, the advent of bitcoin blockchain has transformed the way businesses, specifically the financial services (FS) sector, think about payment transactions. The initial FS success has proven that blockchain technology can work at a global scale, to reduce the need of middlemen in a whole range of business processes and transactions. Little wonder then, that the level of interest, activity and investment now being seen across FS and other industries is a clear indicator of belief in the technology’s potential.

What lies ahead? The age of tokenization

We envision 2018 will be yet another critical year for the development of blockchain. Enterprises are beginning to understand that blockchain, as a public network, is more than a tool for trimming back-office record-keeping costs and improving transparency. Tokenization is key to the functioning of blockchain, helping with determining platforms and accessibility. The ability to create digital assets that can be uniquely identified and traded using blockchains, will have a transformative effect on global markets. While bringing blockchain into mainstream transactions involves technical and operational challenges, governments, regulatory bodies and enterprises are putting in effort to resolve the challenges for a smooth ride in a tokenized economy.

Grant K. NivenAssociate Partner Advisory, EY Africa, India and the Middle East (AIM) [email protected]

Foreword

Paul BrodyPartnerEY Global Blockchain Innovation [email protected]

3Is it time to industrialize blockchain? |

Contents

4 Blockchain implications understood

12 Making it real

13 Are you ready?

5 What next for blockchains in the enterprise?

8 Making the choice to lead the race


Distributed ledger technology (DLT), most notably blockchain — a type of database that records an ongoing list of tamper-proof records, or “blocks,” has already caught the imaginations of executives in almost all types of industries and governments across the globe. Given the extraordinary amount of attention the technology has received, it is not hype to say that the value creation opportunity is huge and the possibilities of future applications are many. Like 3D printing, the sharing economy and the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain holds huge potential to disrupt any industry, creating a world where people get to participate in the value they create. During 2017, private blockchain and blockchain-related companies raised over US$5.5b,¹ and approximately one-fifth of the capital was sourced from venture capitalists. Blockchain has the potential to evolve into a core, underlying element in the technology “stacks” of various industries as diverse as FS, energy, agriculture, and the government and public sector (GPS).

Promising developmentsIn less than a decade, the technology has quickly become a fixation in many industries, for example, FS, as a result of its potential to revolutionize and transform our thinking about data sharing and security, partially in reaction to bitcoin (the cryptocurrency that is an application running on the first public blockchain). From a purely technological standpoint, bitcoin was an attempt to completely disrupt peer-to-peer payments, without the need for a trusted authority (i.e., a financial institution). As the technology that supports bitcoin, blockchain has attracted a much wider range of supporters, and the resulting knowledge is being applied to many other proof-of-concept projects in a whole range of business processes and transactions.

For instance, in the energy sector, a start-up is developing an ecosystem wherein customers can pay for electricity in real time, directly from distributed energy providers. Another blockchain start-up is currently developing a traceability protocol to track the provenance of anything, from coffee beans to a roll of fabric. Opportunities to drive efficiencies in public service delivery, reduce costs and improve transparency have caught the attention of governments too. A series of innovative pilot programs in Sweden, Estonia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) indicate the potential for governments to leverage the power of blockchain in a way that redefines their role and their relationship to businesses, citizens and even the rest of the world.

“ To date, blockchain has transformed only people’s thinking. We don’t yet even know all the questions blockchain technology will raise, much less the answers. But waiting for the technology to take hold is too late. Now is the time to start defining the questions and influencing policy that will lead to answers.”

Channing FlynnEY Global Technology Sector Leader, Tax Services

We are at a phase where blockchain is no more a novel technology, but is rather, seen as integral to digital enterprises; this is a clear indication that enterprises are now focusing on research and development, but are still a long way from adoption at scale. Therefore, the question remains as to where and when profound impacts will be seen.

Blockchain implications understood1


Understanding blockchain technology — public, private and hybridBased on the participants, blockchains are categorized as public, private or hybrid. This is similar to comparing the public internet and a company’s intranet.

• Public and permission-less: Public and permission-less blockchains resemble bitcoin, the original blockchain. All transactions in these blockchains are public, and no permissions are required to join these distributed entities (examples: ethereum, bitcoin).

• Private and permissioned: These blockchains are limited to designated members, transactions are private, and permission from an owner or manager entity is required to join this network. These are often used by private consortia to manage industry value chain opportunities (examples: Ripple, R3).

• Hybrid blockchains: An additional area is the emerging concept of sidechain, which allows for different blockchains (public or private) to communicate with each other, enabling transactions between participants across blockchain networks (example: ROOT blockchain).

Numerous surveys have given us indications about the industries having the most number of blockchain applications. Undeniably, FS (an industry where trust is a prime concern), in which cross-border payments and settlements stand out, leads the way, as can be seen in the graph from a recent International Data Corporation (IDC) report on global blockchain spending in 2017.

However, this hype on the FS side does not correspond to similar interest from corporations, in realizing true value from blockchains where decentralization and interoperability are the key elements.

Enterprises are still conducting trials around blockchain applications operating like distributed databases and notary services, often with very specialized supply chain objectives, such as verifying the origin and authenticity of a product as it moves across the value chain, capturing information about all inputs of a product, enabling accurate visibility and traceability into the history of a product, and so on.

Global blockchain spend in 2017: US$945m

“ This is a useful start, but if we are not careful, it could be a dead end — a fancy, hacker-proof database, where the software company has replaced the central bank as the intermediary of choice. To deliver on the full promise of blockchain technology, we believe that enterprises must embrace the full power of tokenization, and ultimately, the allure of the public network. And, 2018 is the year that this will come into view as the future of this technology.”

Paul BrodyEY Global Blockchain Innovation Leader

Cross-border payments and settlement

Lot lineage or provenance

Trade finance and post-trade or transaction settlements

Regulatory compliance

Asset or goods management

Identity management

$0 $60 $120Note: Global blockchain spending 2017 (US$m) — top six use cases.Source: IDC.2

What next for blockchains in the enterprise?2


The foundation of this high-value future is the concept of tokenization: the process of embedding data related to a real-world asset on a digital token stored on a blockchain — not merely as items of information, but as carriers of value.

Understanding smart contracts Smart contracts are bits of executable code that are triggered when the conditions are right within a blockchain. The advantage of blockchain-based contracts is that they bring down the level of manual intervention in creating, executing and enforcing a contract, thereby lowering its cost, while raising the assurance of the execution and enforcement processes. By automating a transaction in a fully verifiable framework (the blockchain), the transactions can have legal validity even at high frequency — a key enabler for network balancing.

Valu

e fo

r ent

erpr

ise

TimeToday’s enterprise blockchain applications Moving toward “real applications” New normal: enterprise vision

Notarization

• Blockchains operating like distributed databases and notary services

• Not optimized for business transactions — unstructured data, against which it is hard to deliver services

Blockchain implementations are still about timestamping and synchronizing information:

Products provenance

Full-cycle economic blockchain

• Shift from notarization and synchronization, to tokenization

• Possible to execute full-cycle economic contracts between participants on a blockchain, with tokenization

Products and services tokenized and exchanged through digital smart contracts for digital currency tokens

Tokenized fiat currency

Tokenized products and services

+

A closed-loop, tokenized industrial blockchain

“Purist” enterprise blockchain

• Moving toward a public blockchain: future or large, regional or sector-specific networks that are public, is more likely

• Decentralization, interoperability and independent security being the key for enterprises to realize true value

Gradual emergence of public blockchain to be the preferred ecosystem for digital transactions

An open and transparent regional blockchain

Tokenized products and services

Tokenized fiat currency

+

The first stage will be the development of a full-cycle economic blockchain, where products and services are tokenized and exchanged through smart contracts, and value exchanged via traditional fiat tokens.

See example below for tokenization of “mobile phone assets,” as they move across the value chain.

In the example illustrated, when these mobile phones are delivered, value in blockchain can change hands, but in tokenized fiat currencies, say US dollar tokens, or Euros or Yen for that matter. This means, traditional fiat currency is tokenized in the same way assets are tokenized. And central banks have

already started experimenting with tokenizing fiat currencies. These discussions are centered in Northern Europe, and Sweden’s Riksbank might be the first financial institution moving ahead to substitute or complement cash with digital currency. But tests and research are being done all over the world, from China to Canada, and from Singapore to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. There is no doubt that if we did see a major central bank issue a digital currency, the impact could be vast. While such progress is encouraging, the next step is to create a robust regulatory infrastructure that enables the tokenization of fiat currency on any closed-loop industrial blockchain.

This high-value future will have two clear stages:


The gradually increasing preference for public blockchain for enterprise transactions represents Stage 2 of this high-value future. This would enable secure trading of objects that can be digitized, onto the blockchain. A look at the token history can provide information such as customs declaration, tax calculations, product provenance and all related spending. Besides, it is not necessary to have different blockchains for trade finance, payments or product provenance. Collaboration across industries is the key to success here, because the technology becomes exponentially more powerful as more organizations start using it, resulting in network effects.

Historically, most industries have tended to dismiss open source blockchains. This is unsustainable, as large companies seek to build overlapping, parallel private networks that work in silos and require a lot of integration. However, we are starting to see a shift in attitude toward this, with the banking industry leading the way forward. A recent survey reveals that 86% of the banking executives believe that public blockchains will gain greater prominence over the next five years.3 The shift in thinking can be attributed to the increasing awareness of public blockchains such as Ethereum, and the “big leap” innovations this could bring.

Raw materials Manufacture Transport Warehouse Sell Support

• Purchase raw materials to build a phone

• Create digital tokens to represent those assets

• Integrate items together into manufacturing output

• New digital token incorporates the materials

• Put finished goods into an in-transit status

• Move into warehouse with a distributor

• Unload container and truck

• Transfer to a retailer

• Transfer ownership first to retailer and then to end customer

• Build true end-to-end traceability for product history

The flow of product across the network is represented in the blockchain …

… and it is matched by a similar flow of financial tokens in the other direction on the same blockchain.

Nonetheless, we believe public blockchain networks should not be dismissed as the longer-term solution for applications requiring data privacy and scalability. As developers expand protocol and framework offerings on public blockchains, we believe this would create a network effect, such as the interaction of various ecosystems, which will ultimately lead enterprises forward.

However, right now, there are a few obstacles standing in the way of this transformation.

PrivacyFor enterprises to feel secure that their strategic transactions are secure, privacy tools need to be matured (creation of privacy options, such as zkSNARKs, or new protocols, such as Enigma, are in the works).

Legal challengesBeyond privacy, there are legal challenges that need to be addressed as well, including know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) rules for instance. KYC and AML procedures will be automated as developed countries start using digital identities. For example, Estonia’s e-residency project is already underway, and it will positively influence the opportunities for tokenization.

Lack of a standardized system The third obstacle to tokenization is the lack of a standardized system for carrying out transactions — just like every company is now using its own accounting and reporting systems. We believe these are challenges that can be addressed with the development of a global technical standard for integration into business.


As public blockchains achieve enterprise-grade scalability and privacy, we believe blockchain will be at the core of several viable business models that extend well beyond today’s more narrow understanding of cryptocurrency, including exchanges and supply chain systems. Industries are waking up to the need to “make the choice and lead the blockchain race” or be left behind. This is evidenced by a recent IDC report on global spending on blockchain, which forecasts a US$9.7b spending by 2021.2

Early pilots are already under way in many industries, as mentioned in our overview. FS Blockchain projects — while perhaps the most numerous — are not necessarily

the most advanced in terms of development and production. Their first pilots, such as transferring equities or other financial instruments in blockchain environments, tend to focus on exploring ways that drive cost out of business processes, by making transactions more efficient. Also, this could be partly because of the intense regulatory measures and high risk involved in the FS industry, as one mistake can lead to major consequences. While these may be highly valuable uses, there is perhaps more room to experiment with real-world applications, such as consumer products and manufacturing, with finance embedded directly into the natural activities occurring within those markets.

The AIM sphere of influenceThe dynamics of the global economy have changed with a new set of fast-growing economies challenging the position of the more established ones. Three of these markets — Africa, India and the Middle East — are fast becoming more important in terms of their overall global influence.

Even though they inherently differ, the three regions share a number of common traits, especially their focus on leveraging digital innovation, which is very much evident in the initiatives of enterprises in the regions and the respective governments.

US$120.8m US$109.0m US$43.3m US$33.9m

Public sector* FS sector Distribution and services sector

Others

Source: IDC.4 *Public sector include government, health care and education

The blockchain spending in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region is expected to reach US$307m by 2021.

“ The long-term blockchain vision is of markets that run by themselves, with finance embedded directly into the natural activities occurring within those markets. In such an environment, the finance industry will look very different than it does today.”

Angus Champion de CrespignyFS Blockchain and Distributed Infrastructure Strategy Leader, Ernst & Young LLP (US)

Global blockchain spend by sector, 2016–21

Source: IDC.² Note: Bubble size represents size of opportunity in US$m in 2017

Legend: CAGR: compound annual growth rate

Share of spending

Manufacturing and resources Distribution

and services

Financial

2016

–21

CAG

R

Public sector

Infrastructure

75%0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

76%77%78%79%80%81%82%83%84%85%86%

Making the choice to lead the race3


Africa The majority of African states are still considered developing nations, and have been held back by legacies of colonialism, resulting in problems such as armed conflicts, corruption and poverty. But the blockchain ecosystem in many places is already starting to garner strength, and has the potential to make a huge impact on African economies and societies.

Africa, which was responsible for 63% of the US$19.9b global mobile money transactions in 2017, is clearly leading the pack.5 Similar to the success of mobile payments, the blockchain revolution is also catching up at a rapid pace, which will create a promising atmosphere in Africa. The lack of civil service offices, courts and transport hubs does not affect the exchange of data or property on blockchain. This makes the technology an innovative, decentralized and globally applicable financing system. This offers clear advantages in Sub-Saharan Africa, where banking penetration is below 35%, according to the International Finance Corporation.6 Cryptocurrencies running on blockchain remain in value, irrespective of government stability and balanced budgets. Inflationary changes also do not affect the functioning of blockchain, benefiting regions like South Sudan, which suffered from supply disruption-led inflation rates as high as 835% in 2017.6

From enabling micropayment systems to digital identity management to smart contracts, blockchain-based solutions can leapfrog traditional or nonexistent technology infrastructures in African nations and drive a new era of more inclusive growth.

Key developments

“ Blockchain technology is on the path to innovative advancement in Africa, where it helps overcome significant roadblocks that the people there have long faced.”

Land registry services:• A blockchain accelerator for local start-ups is providing land registry services using the Bitshares

blockchain, allowing Ghanaians to register property ownership.

• The accelerator takes the burden of guaranteeing property rights and confirming transactions of corrupt and underfunded local authorities.

Project UBU:• Project UBU has launched an app that aims to deliver the world’s first decentralized currency, offering free

and guaranteed income to all citizens, without relying on taxation.

• The project uncovers “trapped” private sector assets and offers to bring vendors together with citizens who could use them.

Blockchain-powered presidential elections• On 7 March 2018, a Swiss-based blockchain start-up oversaw the results of Sierra Leone’s

presidential election, marking the first use of the technology in this capacity.

• Blockchain technology improves the election process by ensuring transparency, safety and voter anonymity.


“ While the legality and veracity of cryptocurrencies are restricted, the Government of India has recognized the viability of blockchain technology for ushering in the digital economy.”

India Following the remonetizing of high-value currency notes in November 2016, digital payments in India are estimated to grow 10-fold, to US$500b by 2020 from US$50b in 2017. The mobile wallet is projected to touch US$4.4b by 2022.7

However, there is evidence of a variety of different scams exploiting infirmities in digital payment systems. One of the incidents happened recently in an Indian digital wallet company, which lost over US$3m due to a technical glitch. These scams make people reluctant to transact digitally, in spite of the many benefits these modes of payment offer. Blockchain is becoming the answer to such loopholes in payment transactions.

In addition, the country has a 69% bribery rate, and was ranked the most corrupt nation in Asia in 2017. Loan-related illegal transactions touch an average of nearly US$2b a year, and to counter this, interest rates on business are pegged high, reaching up to 20%, which reflects the low trust levels.8 The Government of India is examining methods of handling such issues, and recently revealed its plans to make use of blockchain technology for keeping stakeholders involved and eliminating fraud. The Government is exploring the use of blockchain technology and is emphasizing the need for its ‘rapid adaptation’ in various applications.

The technology has received sustained support from Indian banks, state governments and private companies, and has already piloted a few proofs of concept. However, India has been less strident in the adoption of new forms of digital currency than other regions, such as Africa, and is taking all measures to eliminate payments using them.

Blockchain has started making waves in the region, and the allure of the technology is extending well beyond the FS sector.

Blockchain making waves in South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh:• Andhra Pradesh has the credit of becoming the first state in India to adopt blockchain for governance. It

has pioneered two key projects: managing land records and streamlining vehicle registrations.

• The state has made over 100,000 land records secure through Indian blockchain start-up Zebi Data.

Blockchain project for eGovernance:• NITI Aayog, established by the Government as a premier policy think tank, along with blockchain experts,

has commenced work on initial documents examining blockchain technology, as well as its role in bringing about transparency and implementing usage in eGovernance.

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) partners with Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) to support blockchain ecosystem in India: • IT services industry body NASSCOM has entered into an agreement with BRI to foster the nascent

blockchain ecosystem in India.

• As per the memorandum of understanding (MoU), NASSCOM and BRI will make joint investments to boost the activities, and develop skill sets for blockchain adoption and deployment in India.

Key developments


“ Middle East governments are driving blockchain initiatives in the region and believe that the technology will make public services more efficient and help prepare for future challenges.”

Middle East For the Middle East, the adoption and integration of blockchain into multiple branches of major business and government is a natural pairing with this desire to be at the cutting edge of technological empowerment. Investments in blockchain initiatives to develop potential applications for governments and financial institutions in the region are constantly increasing.

The region has a mixed record in financial sector innovation, but the launching a strategy to exploit the power of blockchain could pave the way for the Middle East to benefit vastly from the shift to a digital economy. The regional governments are aware of the critical role they have to play in pushing ahead with the development, adoption and use of blockchain, which comes under their economic diversification policies. The technology and its potential have developed rapidly over the past few years, and many use cases across multiple industries are moving from experimentation to real-life application.

Currently, the UAE is the leading Middle East nation in terms of blockchain adoption, as it has already announced its strategy to use database technology blockchain for half of the government transactions by 2021. The plan comprises four pillars built on on citizen and resident happiness, government efficiency, advanced legislation, and global entrepreneurship.

Other countries, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, are also investing in innovation centers for both the public and private sectors. For governments and industries in the MENA region, blockchain represents an invaluable tool with which to unleash a huge potential for growth and productivity.

Key developments

Moving government documents into blockchain:• Dubai has announced plans to use blockchain for all government documents by 2020.

• The Government of Dubai, which has set out on an aggressive journey to move government workflows onto blockchain, expects to save AED5.5b annually in document processing costs.

Improve payments infrastructure:• The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has signed an agreement with Ripple to help banks in the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) improve their payments infrastructure.

• SAMA’s support of banks in the KSA using blockchain technology has the potential to radically shift the methods through which banks in the country send money globally.

International remittance: • The National Bank of Oman (NBO) has completed a blockchain pilot for the use of international remittance.

• The pilot is a part of a larger initiative kick-started by the Commercial Bank of Qatar.


Blockchains (both public ones and permissioned) carry great promise for cross-sector applications — but before you jump into the ‘blockchain circus,’ ask yourself: do you actually need a blockchain?

A CEO of an open platform blockchain technology company says: “The vast majority of the projects that his organization received can be perfectly implemented in the traditional relational database.” The age-old phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” comes to mind when assessing the applicability of some

proposed blockchain use cases. This clearly outlines the need for having some conditions which need to be fulfilled in order to move forward with a potential use case. These conditions can act as a filter to sieve out apt projects from the irrelevant ones. A five- point test that EY applies for assessing the fit of blockchain for a particular process includes the following questions:

Are there multiple parties in this ecosystem?

Blockchains get more secure with more parties in the network; one participant networks are not especially secure.

1

Is establishing trust between all the parties an issue?

Blockchains improve trust between participants by having multiple points of verification.

2

Is it critical to have a tamper- proof permanent record of transactions?

Blockchains create permanent records that cannot be edited or deleted.

3

Are we securing the ownership or management of a finite resource?

Core logic in the system is designed to prevent double counting of assets, record ownership, and transfers.

4

Does this ecosystem benefit from improved transparency?

Blockchains are transparent by design — where ownership or control of assets is public and transparent by design.

5

Making it real4

Are you ready?The time has come for blockchain to move from a niche sector play to reshape how entire industries work. EY is a blockchain technology leader. We understand the implications of a distributed world, and have been helping EY clients strategically plan and implement blockchain solutions across industries. More than 50 EY clients in 15 countries have already signed blockchain

agreements in industries ranging from logistics and consumer packaged goods, to banking. EY is building and designing a number of blockchain platforms to support industry processes, and operations platforms with patent-pending applications of blockchain technology.

EY blockchain solution platforms: key offerings

Consulting services

Assurance, tax and

compliance

Product development

Research

Four key components of service strategy

8

7

Business partner

onboarding

Securitization and initial coin offering (ICO) registration

Custom blockchain software

development

Help implement third-party solutions

Implementing EY-developed

services

Risk management and security assessments

Blockchain strategy

and operations consulting

Tax services and strategy for

securities

6 5

4

3

21

Service offerings

Product traceability

End-to-end supply chain platform

Fractional ownership for cars and heavy asset

Digital rights and royalties management

Automated marine insurance

Continuous audit solutions

Government and public sector

User and entity ID on the network

Fractional ownership

Royalties management

Automated recording

Bitcoin audit systems

Financial and reporting reconciliation

Production Development

Pilot Design

Direced buy procurement

Smart asset (IoT) management

Rights management

Automated claimes

Blockchain controls

ERP integration

ERP integration

Cargo integration

Blockchain audits

Advanced analytics

Inventory management

Document and legal contracts

Vat, and global trade and Tax

Client onboarding

OpsChain

Tesseract

Right and royalties managements

Maritime insurance

Audit and assurance

Public financial management

Identity management

Bloc

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in s

olut

ion

plat

form

sSu

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ting

Solu

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ERP — Enterprise resource planning


Overview of blockchain for energy and commodity trading Better-working

insurance: moving blockchain from concept to reality

BlockchainHow this technology could impact the CFO

Blockchain and competition law

Once, blockchain was considered a niche technology, and it was too early to consider competition-law implications. Today, we know the technology should be taken as seriously as the development of the internet in the 1990s. This thought piece provides an overview of what blockchain is and what the stakeholders in a blockchain do. Once this is established, we will then briefly identify whether any actions taken by blockchain stakeholders could constitute a breach of competition law.

Let’s start with why blockchain exists. A transaction between parties can only function — particularly if the parties repeatedly transact — if there is trust and proof of the transaction. Since a digital asset can be replicated many times, a transaction of a digital asset must ensure that replication cannot occur when it is not intended. Blockchain is a technological solution delivering a concept called a “distributed ledger,” which essentially is a way of making sure changes to any piece of information on the ledger can happen only by consensus from the blockchain stakeholders. Blockchain can replace and arguably improve on existing methods of creating trust and proof, such as when working with lawyers, notaries, corporate seals, counterpart agreements, official (government-organized) records, deeds of sale and certificates of authenticity.

Four technologies are behind blockchain. First, encryption is a technology that has been around for a long time and is designed to address trust. For public-key encryption, for example, which pairs public and private keys, a person may send an encrypted message to a recipient using the recipient’s public key (open-source software that scrambles the information). Then, using her own unique, private key, the recipient can unscramble the message. The second technology is called a hash, which takes digital input and converts it to an encrypted digital output. The function of a hash is to ensure that the digital output, in its journey from sender to recipient, has not been tampered with. The third technology is the chain. The chain comprises blocks of information that have been cryptographically validated. There is a

April 2018

Law alertEU competition law

How blockchain is revolutionizing supply chain managementAuthor: Paul Brody EY Global Innovation Leader, Blockchain

How blockchain revolutionizes supply chain management1The power of a blockchain-enabled supply chain2Integrating blockchain into your supply chain doesn’t need to be complex

3

Note: These thought leaderships are available for reference at ey.com

Sources

Further reading

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2.

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4.

6.

7.

8.

Joe KobrianosManagerAdvisory, EY AIM [email protected]

Paul BrodyPartnerEY Global Blockchain Innovation Leader [email protected]

Jad KachmarSenior Consultant Advisory, EY AIM [email protected]

Grant K. NivenAssociate PartnerAdvisory, EY AIM [email protected]

Michel SavoiePartnerAdvisory, EY AIM [email protected]

Contacts

AcknowledgmentArticle contributors:

Chris GantPartner Advisory, EY [email protected]

John Francis K.Associate DirectorEY GDS MENA Leader Digital Strategy & [email protected]

Shiva GopalakrishnanDigital professional EY GDS MENA — Digital Strategy & [email protected]

Bharath K.S.Digital professional EY GDS MENA — Digital Strategy & Research [email protected]


EY | Assurance | Tax | Transactions | Advisory

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

The MENA practice of EY has been operating in the region since 1923. For more than 90 years, we have grown to more than 6,000 people united across 21 offices and 16 countries, sharing the same values and an unwavering commitment to quality. As an organization, we continue to develop outstanding leaders who deliver exceptional services to our clients and who contribute to our communities. We are proud of our accomplishments over the years, reaffirming our position as the largest and most established professional services organization in the region.

© 2018 EYGM Limited. All Rights Reserved.

EYG no: 010281-18GBL ED None

This material has been prepared for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as accounting, tax or other professional advice. Please refer to your advisors for specific advice.

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is it time to industrialize blockchain? - ernst & young · 2018-07-24 · 2 is it time to...

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