Why is New Protocol by EY, ConsenSys, Microsoft Important for Ethereum

Major professional services firm EY has launched the Baseline protocol, a package of public domain blockchain tools for enterprises, which may contribute to greater enterprise adoption of the Ethereum network.

Announced Wednesday, this new protocol claims to bring significant benefits to the enterprises using it – and these are also the features that may fuel adoption as well. The key points are:

• it enables enterprises to build and deploy end-to-end business processes, such as procurement, “securely and privately”;
• no sensitive business information is stored on the blockchain itself; data is compartmentalized;
• financial services are tokenized;
• the protocol is developed in cooperation with blockchain company ConsenSys and the tech giant Microsoft.

Also, the protocol supports smart contracts so these companies can create digital agreements on Ethereum, as well as accepted industry-wide tokenization standards that enable the enterprises to be seen as the participants in the network, removing the need for information sharing. “Key process outputs like purchase orders and receivables are tokenized and integrated into the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem,” says EY.

Furthermore, running a business and its processes is expensive, and so is integrating many of the popular systems, which may not even be efficient. Blockchain can solve these issues, and that way prove its trustworthiness and ability to protect data, therefore attracting more enterprises.

Additionally, the first release of the Baseline protocol includes the process design and components to enable volume purchase agreements, and it’s the basis for blockchain applications that link supply chain traceability with commerce and financial services, says the press release.

“With the Baseline protocol, we are developing enterprise processes that are ecosystem ready because they are being built in a truly blockchain-native manner,” said Yorke Rhodes, Principal Program Manager at Blockchain at Microsoft, adding: “When delivered on the public Ethereum network, this will drive adoption and the whole ecosystem.”

Meanwhile, this is not the first time EY worked with Microsoft. In May 2018, their praised joint blockchain-based product Insurwave, a marine insurance for the shipping giant Maersk, went live. In June that year, the two partnered up to deploy a new blockchain-based network.