Leading Big Four consultancy firm EY has entered into an agreement with The Bitfury Group, a leading full-service blockchain technology company, CNBC reported.
Under the terms of the agreement, The Bitfury Group will provide blockchain software services to EY and its client network. The deal follows Bitfury bagging the “Best Pitch” at the Ernst & Young Blockchain Startup Challenge, announced last month.
"We are deeply honored to work with leading global professional services organization EY to offer blockchain technology solutions to their strong client network," said Valery Vavilov, chief executive of The Bitfury Group, as quoted by CNBC. "Our partnership will bring blockchain technology to even more companies and countries to help improve their business operations, efficiency and security."
The recent deal between the two firms could see the use of blockchain technology expanding beyond finance and into sectors such as technology, energy, and public services.
"While Deloitte and their internal blockchain lab, Rubix, have led the way in professional service adoption of blockchain technology, these partnerships set the stage for an acceleration across the sector," Vijay Michalik, research analyst at consultancy Frost & Sullivan, told CNBC via email. "Blockchain start-ups have long been in conversation with professional services as implementation partners, and late 2016 is seeing their proof-of-concept work emerge into fully fledged and enterprise-ready applications."
