Dutch multinational bank ING has announced a major breakthrough that will help overcome the problem of protecting data privacy when using blockchain technology in financial services.

The bank’s blockchain team has announced a new code, “zero-knowledge range proof” (ZKRP), claiming that it is 10 times more efficient than existing technologies designed to keep information on a ledger private. They have launched ZKRP as an open source solution.

The information on a public ledger is not private as each participant in the network is required to verify any of the changes that are made. The ZKRP code addresses this issue by adding a layer of cryptography to blockchain technology.

ING said that the ZKRP solution demonstrates the truth of a specific statement without revealing any additional information beyond what it’s trying to prove. It also stated that the operating costs of ZKRP are much lower than other technologies.

“Until recently, one of the primary challenges for applying blockchain in the banking sector was ensuring that data privacy was protected and at the same time meeting regulatory reporting requirements,” explained Mariana Gomez de la Villa, global head of ING’s blockchain programme. “While existing zero-knowledge technology has provided us with a way of overcoming that, the main limiting factor is the resource, and therefore cost, that each verification would generate.”

“ING’s ZKRP solution has been proven to be 10 times more efficient than others in the Ethereum test network, while upholding the same three principles: completeness, soundness and zero-knowledge,” she added.