As chair of the Trusted Execution Task Force of Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, iExec is proud to relay the news of EEA releasing the official EEA Off-Chain Trusted Compute Specification V0.5. EEA has now officially published the document, available to download.

Since the launch of iExec, The need for a trusted execution environment has always been a no-brainer. This growing trend in implementing trusted execution environments is driven by two factors. Firstly, semiconductor companies are delivering solutions that are accessible to the mainstream. For example, Intel® Corporation is now building its Intel® SGX hardware enclaves into every new processor. And more importantly, big corporates, that are starting to give serious consideration to blockchain-enabled solutions, fear privacy issues.

iExec has been working hard on integrating trusted execution environment solutions as of July 2017. Since then, iExec has played a leading role in the discussion of this topic within EEA, working to define enterprise standards based on Ethereum, EEA addresses needs that non-blockchain companies have identified for integrating blockchain. EEA is a member-led industry organization based on the goal of empowering the use of Ethereum blockchain technology and implementing a shared standard for the improvement of all industries, focused on the needs of enterprises.

V0.5 of the EEA Off-Chain Compute Specification is a great example of how important this topic is considered by non-blockchain companies and blockchain startups. iExec has been involved since the beginning in writing this specification and, alongside with Intel®, iExec have been the main contributors.

iExec and Intel® chair the Trusted Execution Environment team at EEA

iExec, leading this trusted execution task force in the EEA, is able to understand what is key for enterprises to deploy blockchain-based solutions that want to embed complete trusted execution environment. Privacy and security are not the only key criteria. Flexibility and performance are also important to provide enterprise-ready solutions.

“Trusted compute is a fundamental technology to take enterprise blockchain use to the next level, and the Specification’s Trusted Compute APIs make it easier. This is a good day for the blockchain industry,” — Tom Willis, EEA Founding Board Member, and a Director at Intel’s Open Source Technology Center.

For years, blockchain enthusiasts have talked about the possibility of sharing data, based on agreements and incentives. But no technology was able to sustain such paradigms. For now, the sharing economy was a one-way process in the digital world. Before, when data was shared, it could easily be copied. Thanks to the combination of the blockchain, the Proof of Contribution consensus algorithm and Trusted Execution Environments, like Intel® SGX — data ownership on decentralized platforms is compatible now with sharing economy business models.

Therefore, in providing the iExec End-to-End Trusted Execution utilizing Intel® SGX, iExec allows companies to create services not possible previously.

“New paradigms such as Business to Customers to Business (B2C2B) will emerge from this new technical solution. Customers will be able to provide paid services to companies by giving controlled access to their data without losing ownership,” — Jean-Charles Cabelguen, chair of the Trusted Exécution Environment Task Force at EEA and Chief of Innovation and Adaptation at iExec.

A big step has been made to be closer to real customer-centric services. The EEA Off-Chain Compute Specification v0.5 demonstrated this. And iExec is proud to be part of it.