A recent tweet from Rialto.AI linked to a Medium post claiming the company has entered into a “partnership” (revised on 10/12 to “collaboration”) with mega-accounting firm Ernst & Young is causing quite a stir. The tweet from October 11th 2017 can be seen below.

Critics were fast to jump on the tweet to gain more insight to this said “partnership”. The twitter account for XRP.tips (@XRPTips) inquired into the “partnership” asking if this was a true partnership or if Rialto.AI was simply just paying for Ernst & Young's services?

Rialto.Al responded by saying, “We are clients and of course, we pay”. Another Twitter user, Ethio Ninja (@ethiocrypted) responded to Rialto.Al's response by asking the question, “In essence any crypto ‘company' can enter into a ‘partnership' with E & Y, right?”.

The tweet and the uproar beg the question as to what it means to be in a true business “partnership”. According to Dictionary.com partnership is defined as, “a contractual relationship between two or more persons carrying on a joint business venture with a view to profit, each incurring liability for losses and the right to share in the profits”.

The relationship between Rialto.AI and Ernst & Young is far from the definition of a partnership. It is doubtful that Ernst & Young is sharing in Rialto.AI's profit and losses. The more accurate term to use for this would be that Rialto.AI is a client of Ernest & Young. The Dictionary.com definition of a client is, “a person or group that uses the professional advice or services of a lawyer, accountant, advertising agency, architect, etc.”

By inaccurately using the word “partnership” to describe their relationship with Ernst & Young, Rialto.AI is setting a bad example for the cryptocurrency industry. As the industry craves more credibility, utilizing fabricated angles and stretching truths as a way of marketing coins and other cryptocurrency related content is not acceptable and will be noted and documented by savvy audiences.

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Rialto.AI's stance went from bad to worse as they continue holding on to the Ernst & Young name as a way to increase their perceived value. Now referring to the relationship as “collaboration” as way to correct the previously defined “partnership” relationship is silly when it's known Rialto.AI is simply a paying client of Ernst & Young.

We believe in Rialto.AI's team, tech, utility, and recently covered the company in an in-depth review on our website. The need to loop in Ernst & Young's brand was unnecessary as an attempt to gain attention, and even worse when the nature of the relationship was misrepresented initially.