In collaboration with ConsenSys, a Brooklyn based Startup, Microsoft has launched a cloud-based blockchain platform. This will enable financial institutions to experiment cheaply with the technology underlying bitcoin.

Blockchain is not limited to bitcoin and can be used to secure and validate any data. It works as a huge ledger of bitcoin transaction which is verified by global computer network and is virtually tamperproof. There has been a great emphasis on this technology by the financial sector as it is supposed to bring down costs and at the same time increase efficiency.

The platform will be available to banks and insurance companies that are already using Microsoft’s Azure platform. Four major financial institutions have already signed up to the service.Many companies are building their own blockchain which augments the existing features in bitcoin.

The platform is supposed to provide “fail fast, fail cheap” model for firms as they can experiment with the cloud-based technology using templates provided by Microsoft without having to build their own systems. The technology will also permit companies to create their own blockchains or “smart-contr
acts ” that automatically executes the terms of an agreement in twenty minutes even with no prior information.

Microsoft is using the technology developed by Ethereum, which is a fully programmable blockchain, for the newly launched platform.  As the demand for windows operating system is decreasing gradually, Microsoft has started focusing on cloud based services.

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