Microsoft Partners With Consensys

The partnership between Microsoft and Consensys is groundbreaking; let's take a look.

Brands, businesses, and organizations that cut across various sectors explore blockchain technology.

One of those tactics is to collaborate with blockchain app developers.

In an attempt to leverage blockchain technology, Microsoft partnered with Consensys.

Consensys is the co-founder of Ethereum and a giant in blockchain app development.

The partnership between the two giants in their various sectors saw Microsoft's huge funds investment into Consensys.

In return, Consensys will develop tools to enable Microsoft to become a stakeholder in Web3.

The partnership will also allow Microsoft to use Consensys and Ethereum for its multichain transactions and services.

Statistics show a gross increase in the adoption of blockchain technologies.

Brands, businesses, and startups are expanding their online presence to include financial services and monetary transactions.

Business owners are exploring incorporating financial services into their brand's operation. There has been a series of partnerships towards this cause in recent times.

Recently, Consensys announced its collaboration with Microsoft.

The partnership is geared towards strengthening the capabilities of Consensys blockchain solution and, on the other hand, Microsoft breaking into web3 and Metaverse.

The collaboration comes with many other benefits that both brands tend to achieve.

Moving forward, we shall examine the core functions of Consensys as a blockchain app alongside Microsoft. After that, we shall take our spotlight on the partnership between the two tech giants.

Let's dig in.

What Is Consensys?

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Consensys is a blockchain software developer founded in 2014 by Joseph Lubin. Ethereum and Consensys share the same co-founder.

Lubin founded Consensys to develop decentralized apps that will be deployed over the Ethereum blockchain.

Since the launch of Consensys, the blockchain developer has continued to acquire various tech assets, including Quorum.

Consensys has also built blockchain apps such as MetaMask and Infura. MetaMask is an Ethereum wallet application developed to enable you to store and transfer your cryptocurrencies.

Infura, another blockchain app developed by consensys, is a blockchain node infrastructure service that enables you to get data and transaction details on your Ethereum blockchain.

Consensys is a co-founder of Ethereum. Most of its developed apps are to ease your transactions using the Ethereum blockchain.

Consensys is a blockchain software developer that enables web3 apps. As a developer, you can use the Consensys platform to build web3 applications, launch modern financial infrastructure, and access decentralized web services.

Consensys has invested in other projects unrelated to blockchain or software development. They include Meridio for real estate management and Gnosis, a prediction marketplace.

In 2021, Consensys increased its market valuation to $3.2 billion by raising $200 million from Animoca Brands, Coinbase Ventures, HSBC, and others.

At this juncture, let's look at Consensys’ efforts in the blockchain.

The efforts of consensys in blockchain technology are significant. Consensys enables the transfer and exchange of digital tokens across various blockchain platforms.

With Consensys, you can directly transfer and swap tokens with ease, and confidentiality will be guaranteed in the transactions.

For instance, Consensys has introduced TokenSwaps for MetaMask. With this new feature, you can compare and transfer tokens directly within the world’s most popular Ethereum wallet.

Having identified what Consensys is and the efforts of Consensys in blockchain technology, we shall move to a detailed discussion on Microsoft and its effort in Blockchain.

What Is Microsoft?

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Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. It is one of the giant software development companies in the world.

Microsoft is a multinational technology corporation best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system.

Microsoft is the parent developer of Microsoft Office Suites, Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers.

Microsoft inc. is into software development, cloud computing, computer hardware, gaming, consumer electronics, and others.

Some of the popular hardware and software products of Microsoft include Xbox Game, OneDrive, Bing, LinkedIn, Microsoft Store, Bing, Azure, and others.

As of 2021, Microsoft had a revenue of about $161 billion and over 182,000 employees.

Microsoft, like every other tech company, has ventured into blockchain technology.

Microsoft’s Efforts In Blockchain

Microsoft has several plans, collaborations, and policies underway toward becoming a stakeholder in blockchain technology.

One of the critical efforts of Microsoft in Blockchain is the funding of Consensys alongside other organizations. Consensys, a blockchain platform, raised $450 million, raising its valuation to $7 billion.

Experts believe that this massive investment by Microsoft in Blockchain highlights the growing interest and efforts of the tech giant.

They expect that this interest is geared toward creating a decentralized version of the internet that will be powered by blockchain technology.
In addition, Microsoft has launched a preview of its “Azure” confidential ledger service.

The newly launched ledger service by Microsoft is a blockchain-based secure ledger on its Azure suite.

The Microsoft Azure Confidential Ledger (ACL) leverages the blockchain to add an extra security layer and scalability to its ledger protocol.


Microsoft Azure is the second-largest cloud computing platform, coming close to Amazon web service (AWS).

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform that allows you to access cloud services and functions provided by Microsoft.

Microsoft Azure was launched in 2010 and is currently the fastest-growing cloud computing platform.

Aside from the cloud computing service, Azure provides networking, storage, analytics, integration, management, DevOps, and web services to general internet users.

Using any programming language, you can create an array of Azure software.

Azure will take care of the hardware component of the software as long as you provide the code.

While the significant function of Microsoft Azure is cloud services, you can also use it for networking, application development, application hosting, virtual hard drive, and a host of others.

In an attempt to leverage blockchain technology, Microsoft partnered with Consensys.

The Collaboration Between Consensys and Microsoft

Consensys raised its valuation to $7 billion, and it should interest you to know that one of the major companies that added to the funding is Microsoft.

The partnership between Consensys and Microsoft was to actualize their Web3 plan. Experts think that famous software developers such as Meta (the developers of Facebook), Google, and Microsoft are racing to be significant stakeholders in Web3.

Microsoft retired Azure's blockchain services to actualize the partnership and collaborated with Consensys in May 2021. Afterward, it started directing its clients and partners to Consensys.

The partnership will allow Microsoft to use Consensys and Ethereum and provide Blockchain-As-A-Service. Microsoft’s Azure customers will be able to use the Ethereum based blockchain service directly from Microsoft platforms.

Furthermore, the collaboration is expected to enable Microsoft users and partners a seamless path to building multichain (cloud-enabled) blockchain services. The partnership will ensure privacy and confidentiality during blockchain transactions.

On the other hand, Consensys is devising means to strengthen the capabilities of its blockchain solutions. One of those ways is the partnership with Microsoft.

Conclusion

The collaboration between Microsoft and Consensys is not the first of its kind and won't be the last.

Over the years, investors have partnered with blockchain app developers to avoid being left behind when the world eventually embraces the Metaverse.

The collaboration between Microsoft and Consensys is a win-win situation for both tech giants.

The former can expand its frontier and take a step higher into being a stakeholder in blockchain development. At the same time, the latter increased its market valuation and took up new tasks.



Author: Valentine. A, Gate.io Researcher
This article represents only the researcher's views and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
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