Microsoft, Intel and Accenture are among the companies which have formed the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, a body which aims to further advance blockchain technology.

BP, J.P. Morgan, Wipro are also part of the alliance, which aims to connect Fortune 500 enterprises, startups, academics, and technology vendors with Ethereum subject matter experts.

All these companies together will learn from and build upon the only smart contract supporting blockchain currently running in real-world production of the Ethereum to define enterprise-grade software capable of handling the most complex, highly demanding applications at the speed of business.

Richard Lumb, group chief executive of financial services for Accenture, said: “Capital markets institutions have faced a perfect storm of regulatory-compliance costs and revenue pressures in recent years, prompting them to invest in emerging technologies as a lever to improve profitability. Through this first-of-its-kind analysis of real-world cost data, we draw a clearer line under blockchain’s value to investment banks. Our goal is to help banks move rapidly from proof-of-concept to production system with blockchain technology, generating real cost savings and improving bottom-line results.”

In addition, The Linux Foundation led Hyperledger Project has added eleven new members who will help create an open standard for distributed ledgers for a new generation of transactional applications.

The latest members in the Project include: Bank of England, Bitmark, China Merchants Bank, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts (IC3), Kaiser Permanente, Kubique, MadHive, Monax, OSCRE and RadarWin Cyber Technology. Earlier in 2017, American Express and Daimler were also added in the Hyperledger Project as Premier members.

Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director, Hyperledger, said: “Growth and interest in Hyperledger remain high in 2017. We are now at 122 members and seeing even more diverse organisations across industry sectors invest their energy and resources in understanding how blockchain technology can strengthen their own business processes. This new set of members’ combined backgrounds and experiences will be invaluable to the community, as we strive to increase production deployments through this year.”

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