Microsoft today said it’s joining the Hyperledger community for open source blockchain technology projects. Earlier today, Facebook debuted the Libra cryptocurrency and Calibra wallet for WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and a standalone smartphone app for other commerce.
Microsoft joins a number of tech and finance organizations such as Baidu, Citi, IBM, Intel, J.P. Morgan, Salesforce, and SAP. The Hyperledger is overseen by the Linux Foundation and currently counts more than 100 member organizations around the world.
The move is the latest by large tech companies like Microsoft to inch closer to serious blockchain offerings. Microsoft launched the fully managed Azure Blockchain Service in May, and blockchain workbench and developer kits in 2018. Amazon’s blockchain management service hit general availability in late April, days before the Azure Blockchain Service. The Salesforce Blockchain service was also introduced in recent weeks.
“Enterprises and startups have gone beyond the technology’s digital currency roots to build more business-oriented blockchain applications that leverage a mix of networks, both public and private,” Azure Blockchain engineering program manager Marley Gray said today in a blog post. “We believe that developing standards and open specifications, as well as collaborating on implementations of them, is critical to removing customer blockers and accelerating blockchain as a mainstream technology.”
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In other blockchain news, LinkedIn declared that “blockchain developer” was the fastest growing job in the United States last year.
