Deloitte says it has worked with five blockchain companies to develop 20 blockchain prototypes

Deloitte, one of the world’s largest accounting firms, has revealed that it has partnered with five blockchain startups to build a wide range of blockchain technology prototypes for service industries, including insurance, human resources management and cross-border payments.

Deloitte, one of the world’s Big Four accounting firms, has built 20 viable blockchain prototypes in partnership with five startups, including BlockCypher, Bloq, ConsenSys Enterprise, Loyyal and Stellar.

Four of the prototypes will be demonstrated live at the Consensus 2016 blockchain conference.

Deloitte chief consulting officer Eric Piscini told CoinDesk that while the companies come from different sectors, Deloitte’s collaboration with these companies is part of its global strategy to move blockchain from theory to real-world applications.

Piscini said:

“The expansion of blockchain beyond banking is happening now. When you consider the applications of blockchain to insurance, healthcare, retail, trading or general commerce, you see a ton of opportunities.”

Piscini said all 20 prototypes are fully functional. Details about the prototypes will be released soon. Piscini divided the partnerships into three categories based on the type of product created by each prototype.

5 major partners

In the banking category, two startups, BlockCypher and ConsenSys, are helping Deloitte build a “digital bank” on the blockchain. Although the bank will not build on the blockchain from scratch, they have built different services and are currently selling them to banks.

BlockCypher is one of Deloitte’s newest partners. The company has raised $3.5 million and is currently providing Deloitte with its core technology, an API layer that can be used in a variety of digital banking tools built on the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains, as well as custom and private chains.

ConsenSys Enterprise, one of Deloitte’s earliest blockchain partners, is helping the firm create a series of prototypes for financial products that it can sell to banks.

Insurance category. Piscini grouped BlockCypher and ConsenSys with a third partner, Bloq, reflecting his hope that the three companies will help Deloitte scale blockchain on a global level. However, he distinguished Bloq from the other two companies because Bloq is committed to helping Deloitte launch a blockchain insurance product.

The third category is what Piscini described as special use cases. One is Loyyal, formerly Ribbit.me, which specializes in rewards programs. Another is Stellar, a cross-border payments startup.

Stellar is unique among these companies in that it is a non-profit foundation dedicated to facilitating cross-border payments. The Stellar project with Deloitte is a financial services project that Piscini said was created for a bank outside of North America.

“Customers were surprised at how fast the transaction was and how low the price was.”

Ready for business

Deloitte’s revenues hit $35.2 billion last year, up 7.6% in local currency. Earlier this year, CoinDesk published a report from Piscini suggesting that this year will be the year blockchain becomes ‘real’ thanks to consortiums like R3CEV and the emergence of “next-generation platforms” like Ethereum.

In a recent conversation with CoinDesk, Piscini said Deloitte’s clients have begun asking for blockchain products in a variety of fields, including insurance, oil and gas, and asset management.

“Of course, we’re ready. But I don’t want to say I’m ready until I know what the customers are trying to do. If they’re trying to send blockchain to the moon, then I’m not ready.”