EY Launches Token and Smart Contract Testing Service in Open Beta

Accountancy giant Ernst & Young (EY) has made its token and smart contract review service available for public testing.

Launched earlier on Wednesday, the public beta version allows users to paste code for analysis, during which it identifies security risks by testing the functionality and efficiency of a smart contract, as well as evaluating the quality of the coding.

Currently the service can only review ERC-20-based smart contracts, which are written in the Solidity programming language. EY has not said whether it plans to expand support to other blockchain protocols in the future.

A Reddit post from a user called "pbrody," most likely EY’s global blockchain lead, Paul Brody, said the company planned to launch its testing service into production shortly.

EY initially unveiled the service – originally known as the EY Smart Contract Analyzer – in April, and has spent the eight months since testing the service in private beta.

By reviewing their tokens' code, investors will be able to monitor changes in the software and ensure tokens and smart contracts meet accepted industry standards, EY says. Tokens can also be stress-tested in a range of transaction scenarios, using data collected from the ethereum blockchain.

“Our clients are increasingly entrusting key enterprise business processes and valuable investments to software code,” Brody said in the April announcement. “We don’t run enterprise computing systems without anti-virus tools and it only makes sense to run blockchain-based investment systems with smart contract and token testing tools.”

EY’s review service will form part of the company’s broader Blockchain Analyzer, an analytics tool that compiles and reports transaction data, making financial reporting and auditing on the blockchain possible.

The second iteration of the Blockchain Analyzer, also unveiled in April, increased the number of supported protocols, including private blockchains, as well as enabling analysis of privacy enhancing, zero-knowledge proof-based transactions. An EY project for running private transactions on the ethereum blockchain, known as ‘Nightfall’, has also been integrated into Analyzer.

Back in October, EY said it had developed a blockchain tool for governments to track and analyze their own transactions, something the company said would improve transparency and accountability in the management of public funds.