Microsoft & IBM Weigh in on the Battle Between Private and Public Blockchains
As business giants and governments are moving to explore Blockchain, the distributed ledger system that is behind Bitcoin, Microsoft is to build a “Certified Blockchain Marketplace”. Microsoft Azure platform. Bitcoin’s value had earlier seen a $20 surge when Microsoft had announced plans to integrate Bitcoin into its Windows and Xbox digital payments system, though the initiative failed to garner widespread support. However, Microsoft is now moving forward and experimenting with the technology behind Bitcoin, Blockchain - the distributed ledger system on which Bitcoin and other....
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Many people argue that private blockchains, run by private firms, are useless, since they make users dependent upon a third party ‒ the firm managing the blockchain. Many believe that private blockchains currently being considered are not blockchains, but rather, distributed ledger technology which has already existed. Others believe private blockchains could provide solutions to many financial enterprise problems that Bitcoin does not, such as abiding by regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer....
Investor Fred Wilson, co-founder of Union Square Ventures, thinks banks are missing the most important opportunity bitcoin offers by building private blockchains. Speaking on a panel with Nathaniel Popper of The New York Times at the CB Insight “Future of Fintech,” he said the transformative value of virtual currency will be on a public blockchain, as reported by the Observer. Private blockchains copy the distributed approach of public blockchains but hide it inside the servers that their creators have given permission to maintain a copy. Private Blockchains? Think Compuserve. Wilson, a....
Vitalik Buterin is a programmer and writer. He founded Ethereum, a decentralized web 3.0 publishing platform, for which he won the World Technology Award in 2014. In this article, he explores the differences between public and private blockchains and the pros and cons of both. Over the last year, the concept of 'private blockchains' has become very popular in the broader blockchain technology discussion. Essentially, instead of having a fully public and uncontrolled network and state machine secured by cryptoeconomics (eg proof-of-work, proof-of-stake), it is also possible to create a....
The Microsoft Azure blockchain-as-a-service offering just got a bit longer, as AlphaPoint joined the fray. Or to be more precise, the first certified offering by Blockapps is making its way to the Microsoft Azure BaaS service, in the form of STRATO. This single-blockchain instance will let developers tinker around the Ethereum blockchain and provide an API for application purposes. Additionally, AlphaPoint and IOTA are now available on the BaaS platform as well. STRATO Arrives On Microsoft Azure BaaS. It is positive to see Microsoft Azure continue the development of their....
Technology giant Microsoft is reportedly among several other industry firms alongside banks and financial institutions coming together to form a new blockchain working group called the ‘Enterprise Ethereum Alliance’. The coalition of tech firms and banks aim to accelerate the adoption of Ethereum’s public blockchain technology in corporations and enterprises, according to a Bloomberg report. Flocking to Ethereum. With companies like Microsoft pushing toward development and service offerings, Ethereum, as a smart contracts-based public blockchain is seeing a number of adopters in the....