In mid-December 2015, Microsoft made another decisive bet on blockchain technology, expanding its Azure Blockchain-as-a-Service platform with three new partners: Eris Industries, CoinPrism, and Factom. The move underscored the growing conviction among major technology companies that distributed ledger technology would become fundamental infrastructure for enterprise applications, and it positioned Azure as the leading cloud platform for blockchain development at a time when the industry was still in its earliest stages.
TL;DR
- Microsoft Azure added Eris Industries, CoinPrism, and Factom to its Blockchain-as-a-Service platform in December 2015
- Eris enabled custom blockchain deployment for legal and financial smart contract applications
- CoinPrism provided cryptographic asset issuance and tracking via the Open Assets Protocol
- Factom offered blockchain-based document provenance and was pursuing a land registry project with Honduras
- The platform already included ConsenSys for Ethereum services and Ripple Labs for distributed remittances
Three New Building Blocks for Enterprise Blockchain
The December 15 announcement from Microsoft Azure revealed a platform rapidly maturing to serve diverse enterprise blockchain needs. Eris Industries brought the ability for developers to deploy custom blockchains tailored to sophisticated legal and financial applications using smart contracts. Unlike public blockchains where anyone could participate, Eris allowed organizations to create permissioned networks with controlled access, a critical requirement for businesses handling sensitive financial or legal data.
CoinPrism, developed by Pixode Ltd, leveraged the Open Assets Protocol to enable developers to issue and track cryptographic assets on a blockchain, including the Bitcoin blockchain. The technology provided an auditable chain of ownership for digital commodities, opening possibilities for asset tokenization, supply chain verification, and digital rights management long before these concepts became industry buzzwords.
Factom contributed perhaps the most immediately practical application: using blockchain technology to establish provenance for documents and records. By tying documents to an auditable history using cryptographic keys, Factom created tamper-proof proof of existence and chronology. The company had already attracted attention for seeking a contract with the government of Honduras to build a more secure land registry, demonstrating real-world applications for blockchain beyond cryptocurrency speculation.
A Growing Ecosystem
The three new partners joined an Azure BaaS ecosystem that already included significant players in the blockchain space. ConsenSys, founded by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, provided Ethereum blockchain services through the platform, giving developers access to the smart contract capabilities that would eventually power the decentralized finance movement. Ripple Labs contributed its distributed remittance service, targeting the cross-border payments market that SWIFT was simultaneously beginning to reevaluate.
All blockchain-as-a-service offerings were accessible through the Azure staging area, with a dedicated marketplace being assembled to help enterprise customers discover and deploy blockchain solutions. Searching for blockchain-related offerings in Azure revealed the initial catalog, though Microsoft clearly intended to expand the selection significantly.
The Broader Enterprise Blockchain Moment
Microsoft’s Azure BaaS expansion came during a pivotal month for blockchain’s relationship with mainstream technology. The Linux Foundation had just launched the Hyperledger Project, bringing together IBM, Intel, and other major companies to build open-source enterprise blockchain frameworks. SWIFT was exploring blockchain for cross-border payments. The R3CEV banking consortium was growing, with major financial institutions committing resources to understanding how distributed ledger technology could transform their operations.
For Microsoft, the BaaS platform represented a strategic positioning that would prove prescient. By making blockchain development tools accessible through its cloud infrastructure, the company lowered the barrier to entry for enterprises curious about the technology but lacking in-house expertise. Bitcoin was trading at approximately $463 at the time, Ethereum at under a dollar, yet the infrastructure being built in December 2015 would support applications worth billions within just a few years.
Why This Matters
Microsoft’s December 2015 Azure BaaS expansion was an early indicator that the enterprise blockchain market would become a multi-billion-dollar industry. By providing cloud-based blockchain development tools before most companies even understood what blockchain was, Microsoft captured significant mindshare and customer relationships in the space. The partnerships with Eris, CoinPrism, and Factom represented a diverse approach to enterprise blockchain that went far beyond simple cryptocurrency applications, encompassing smart contracts, asset tokenization, document verification, and land registries. The vision articulated in these early Azure BaaS offerings would eventually materialize in the widespread adoption of blockchain for supply chain management, financial services, government records, and digital identity, validating the strategic bet Microsoft made when the technology was still viewed by many as a curiosity.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Past events described herein are historical in nature. Always conduct your own research before making any investment decisions.