Microsoft brings Ethereum blockchain tech to the mainstream

Blockchain technology is slowly making its way into the mainstream. It took a big step this week, when Microsoft certified a development environment for Ethereum, running on its own Azure cloud service.

Ethereum is a new kind of blockchain, building on concepts originally piloted by the bitcoin network. Bitcoin’s blockchain is a decentralized financial ledger, enabling everyone to record and see everyone else’s transactions. These transactions are cryptographically sealed, making them immutable.

The point of the bitcoin system was to enable people to exchange money with each other even when they didn’t trust or even know each other. The ledger is a single source of truth that stops anyone claiming they hadn’t sent money and trying to spend it again.

Previously, people relied on banks to maintain these ledgers, acting as a central hub for transactions. Bitcoin promised to do away with centralized transaction processing altogether and enable people to send each other money without the need for…

Read the full article written by Danny Bradbury on IT World Canada

Read full article