Ernst & Young: Bitcoin isn’t only digitalization process

8 years ago - Published in Finance, Fintech Land, Technical Analysis

Ernst & Young (EY), one of the “Big Four” accounting corporations in the world, is leading the Bitcoin industry to the mainstream. For users or employees that are in need of high liquidity, EY also installed a Bitcoin ATM in their public office in Switzerland, enabling its clients and employees to purchase and sell Bitcoins.

Most importantly, EY is accepting Bitcoin payments for all of their consulting services, which accounts for around $7.8 bln in 2016. This means that any client can pay globally with Bitcoin to cover services provided by EY.

Marcel Stalder, the CEO of EY Switzerland stated: “We don’t only want to talk about digitalization, but also actively drive this process together with our employees and our clients. It is important to us that everybody gets on board and prepares themselves for the revolution set to take place in the business world through blockchains, two smart contracts and digital currencies.”

The world’s “Big Four” accounting corporations are PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG, all of which generate revenues of over $20 bln. However, only EY is allocating its resources and capital for the development of Bitcoin. Others are focusing on the so-called “permissioned blockchain,” which is still yet to demonstrate practical and commercial applications.

Bitcoin is seen as a threat against financial dependence and monopoly established by banks and financial institutions as Bitcoin provides users with financial freedom and independence. Essentially, Bitcoin eliminates the necessity of banks, rendering most, if not all, of banking services irrelevant.

Switzerland has its own initiative, digitalswitzerland, for digitalization and innovation supported by several sectors. EY is not only a founding member – it is also one of the sponsors of the FinTech satellite at the WorldWebForum 2017 in January in Zurich. The company is planning to present its own blockchain solutions at the Forum.

Besides, EY Switzerland has teamed up with the University of St. Gallen and the ETH Zurich. The partnership called Redesigning Financial Services intends to work on the innovations with the potential to revolutionize the financial industry.

EY remains one of the very few large-scale companies to acknowledge the potential of Bitcoin and the impact it already has had on the global financial ecosystem.