In a move that would prove pivotal for enterprise blockchain adoption, Microsoft officially launched Ethereum Blockchain as a Service (EBaaS) on its Azure cloud platform in early November 2015, partnering with blockchain incubator ConsenSys to bring smart contract development tools to corporate clients worldwide. The announcement, published on November 9 and resonating through the crypto industry by November 12, marked the first time a major technology company offered blockchain infrastructure as a cloud-based service.
TL;DR
- Microsoft partnered with ConsenSys to launch Ethereum Blockchain as a Service (EBaaS) on Azure
- Two developer tools released: Ether.Camp IDE and BlockApps blockchain environment
- Service targets enterprise clients, especially in financial services
- Ethereum chosen over Bitcoin for its smart contract capabilities and Turing-complete programming language
- BTC traded at $338.15 and ETH at just $0.90 at the time of the launch
A Strategic Partnership Between Tech Giants and Blockchain Visionaries
Microsoft’s Enterprise Partner Group had been fielding questions about blockchain technology from its largest customers, particularly in financial services, for months. The demand was clear: corporations wanted to experiment with distributed ledger technology but lacked the infrastructure and tools to do so efficiently. Microsoft’s answer was to team up with ConsenSys, the blockchain venture production studio founded by Joseph Lubin, one of Ethereum’s co-founders.
The initial EBaaS offering included two core tools designed to accelerate smart contract development. Ether.Camp provided an integrated developer environment where programmers could write, test, and deploy Ethereum smart contracts without setting up complex local infrastructure. BlockApps offered a private and semi-private Ethereum blockchain environment that could also deploy into the public Ethereum network, giving enterprises the flexibility to test applications in isolation before going live.
Why Ethereum, Not Bitcoin?
Microsoft’s decision to build on Ethereum rather than Bitcoin was deliberate and telling. The Azure team explained that while Bitcoin had proven itself as a cryptocurrency platform, Ethereum offered the flexibility and extensibility that enterprise customers demanded. The key differentiator was Ethereum’s support for smart contracts and decentralized applications, powered by a Turing-complete programming language.
“Ethereum enables SmartContracts and Distributed Applications to be built, potentially cutting out the middleman in many industry scenarios streamlining processes like settlement,” Microsoft noted in its announcement. The company acknowledged that the full potential of combining cryptographic blockchain security with programmable smart contracts was still being discovered.
The Financial Services Opportunity
The EBaaS launch was squarely aimed at financial services firms, where blockchain technology was increasingly seen as both a disruptor and an opportunity. Microsoft positioned Azure as a comprehensive dev/test/production environment for blockchain applications, with the ability to integrate surrounding capabilities like Cortana Analytics, Power BI, Azure Active Directory, and Office 365.
For Ethereum, trading at just $0.90 on November 12, 2015, with a market capitalization of approximately $66.9 million, the Microsoft partnership represented extraordinary validation. Bitcoin, by comparison, was priced at $338.15 with a market cap of $5.02 billion. The total cryptocurrency market was still in its infancy, with the top five assets by market cap being Bitcoin, XRP, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Dash.
Implications for the Blockchain Ecosystem
The EBaaS launch signaled a broader shift in how enterprise technology companies viewed blockchain. Rather than treating it as a niche experiment, Microsoft was offering blockchain infrastructure alongside its mainstream cloud services. The one-click deployment model meant that developers could spin up a blockchain environment in minutes rather than days, dramatically lowering the barrier to entry.
ConsenSys’s involvement was equally significant. As one of the earliest and most prolific builders in the Ethereum ecosystem, the partnership lent credibility to the still-young platform. Ethereum had launched its Frontier release just months earlier in July 2015, and the network was still finding its footing. Having Microsoft as a platform partner would prove to be one of the most important early endorsements for Ethereum’s long-term trajectory.
Why This Matters
Looking back, Microsoft’s EBaaS launch on Azure in November 2015 was a watershed moment for enterprise blockchain adoption. It demonstrated that major technology companies were willing to invest real resources in blockchain infrastructure, not just experiment with proof-of-concepts. For Ethereum, the partnership provided crucial legitimacy during its earliest days, helping attract developers and enterprises who might otherwise have dismissed smart contract platforms as unproven technology. The tools and frameworks that emerged from this collaboration would lay the groundwork for years of enterprise blockchain development, and Ethereum’s price journey from under a dollar to thousands would eventually reflect the ecosystem’s explosive growth.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile, and past performance is not indicative of future results.