Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA): Meaning, Examples, and Membership

What Is the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) ?

The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), launched in February 2017, brings together various start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, technology vendors, academics, and Ethereum subject matter experts to work on Ethereum as an enterprise-grade technology.

How the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) Works

Although many technology giants and businesses had been supporting Ethereum via Cloud services and working towards its adoption, most efforts towards its scalability, privacy, and interoperability remained scattered until the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance came into being.

The alliance aims to build, promote, and support Ethereum blockchain technology best practices, standards, and a reference architecture capable of handling real-world applications and usage.

Launched in 2015, Ethereum is a blockchain-based, decentralized software platform that enables smart contracts and Distributed Applications (dApps) to be built and run without downtime, fraud, control, or interference from a third party.

Ethereum is not just a platform but also a Turing complete programming language running on a blockchain that helps developers build and publish distributed applications.

EEA Efforts

Recently, member companies (and others) have initiated and worked on multiple pilot projects covering areas such as supply chain provenance tracking, inter-bank payments, reference data, securities settlement, and many others.

However, real-world enterprise use calls for collaborative efforts to build architectures allowing permissioned and public Ethereum networks. The formation of EEA is an important step in this direction.

The EAA also provides education and training for members. The organization publishes newsletters, videos, and webinars as part of its public service mission.

EEA Membership

The board members of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance included Accenture, BlockApps, ConsenSys, Ethereum Foundation, EY, J.P. Morgan, Microsoft, and Santander.

According to the EEA website, there are over 100 associate and organizational members of EEA. Associate members are represented by the Blockchain Research Institute, Hyperledger, and SAE ITC. Social impact partners include the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition and the Decentralized Identity Foundation.

The members of EEA represent varied businesses from every region of the world, including technology, banking, government, healthcare, energy, pharmaceuticals, marketing, and insurance.

With a focus on solving the real-world challenges of deploying Ethereum at an enterprise scale, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance is an important initiative in the adoption of blockchain and decentralization.

EEA Benefits

Organizations that join the EEA get to leverage Ethereum technology in their business operations. It also exposes them to over 20,000 Ethereum community members. Members can network, establish partnerships, and showcase technology within the largest Ethereum ecosystem.

EEA membership provides market opportunities through branding, speaking, and advertising, and facilitates building solutions on globally trusted EEA standards. The EEA also offers speaking and advertising opportunities at events, RFP inclusion, and prominent placement in the Ethereum Ecosystem stack.

EEA membership also drives industry adoption by contributing to best practices and utilizing EEA resources to design enterprise-level solutions. Members participate in working groups to address Ethereum challenges, vote on technical developments, and access the EEA Testnet for testing. EEA even offers certification to ensure solutions meet industry standards and interoperability requirements.

Finally, EEA members can join interest groups, access member service discounts, and use EEA branding. Members can access the global developer community of 3,000+ contributors and 15+ user groups across 25 industries and six continents to enhance collaboration. To gain access, EEA provides a password-protected member collaboration site.

The Bottom Line

The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) is an industry-led organization. Its objective is to promote using the Ethereum blockchain to empower enterprises. The EEA works to deliver an open, standards-based architecture created to accelerate the adoption of Enterprise Ethereum in the business world.