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EY blockchain startup challenge gets underway at Canary Wharf

Accounting firm Ernst & Young has welcomed six blockchain startups to its Canary Wharf offices as part of its third annual Startup Challenge.

Announced last week, the chosen startups include London-based firms BTL Group and Tallysticks, as well as Adjoint, BitFury, BlockVerify and JAAK, who will spend six weeks exploring blockchain innovations and product development.

For this year’s programme, EY will work with the six successful startups to build products that utilise distributed ledger technology for digital rights management and energy trading, as the accounting firm investigates uses for the tech that transcends financial services.

Commenting when the successful six startups were announced, Jamie Qiu, Founder and Lead of the EY Startup Challenge, EY said: “We are hugely excited to explore together with these six startup businesses how blockchain can be used to transform digital rights management and energy trading.

“These two key areas are ripe for change and we believe blockchain has the potential to bring about notable enhancements in productivity and transparency.

“We think that the prospective impact of this technology outside of the financial services sector is enormous, and we look forward to exploring this collaboratively.”

Now the programme has gotten underway, the six startups will be housed within the innovation hub of an accelerator space at EY’s offices where they will have access to EY mentors, workshops and other businesses in the space.

The programme is set to culminate on 20 October for a showcase day where the startups will show off the products they have built.

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