Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) offered by Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft

A notable increase in the interest for blockchain-based applications has been seen in both financial and non-financial sectors. There are many examples of blockchain applications already being released as a service, known as Blockchain as a Service (BaaS). These include the IBM Blockchain, the Microsoft Azure Blockchain, the Amazon AWS Blockchain, and the R3 Corda Blockchain.

Blockchain technology refers to a secure distributed digital ledger that is useful for recording anything valuable, including financial transactions and sensitive data. It is the underlying technology of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and has numerous applications.

The IBM blockchain is a public cloud service used to create secure blockchain networks and digitize transactions using a highly secured system. IBM claims to be the only fully integrated enterprise-ready blockchain application. Their application is designed to increase the efficiency of multi-institution business networks, and make all activities within the system easily traceable. “What the internet did for communications, blockchain will do for trusted transactions,” says IBM CEO, Ginni Rometty.

Last year, in order to create a secure environment for blockchain experimentation, Amazon Web Services (AWS), collaborated with the New York City-based Digital Currency Group (DCG). The aim was to create a reliable environment for blockchain providers to deal with clients like financial institutions, insurance companies, and enterprise technology companies. “AWS is working with financial institutions and blockchain providers to spur innovation and facilitate frictionless experimentation,” said AWS’s head of worldwide financial services business development.

R3 Corda is another blockchain-based platform and the result of the largest collaborative group of its kind in financial markets. Corda is designed to help firms create competent blockchain-like applications. It enables users to carry out smooth transactions without the interference of central authorities in a cheaper and more simple way. Aiming to cut down scams and increase efficiency, the Japanese financial giant Mizuho Group, also intends to use Corda to digitize their documents, including letters of credit and bill of landing invoices. The startup continues to develop and recently released version 1.0 of Corda this month.

Another example of BaaS solutions is Microsoft Azure. Claimed to be providing a quick and cheap platform for collaborations seeking to experiment with new business processes, Microsoft Azure is able to work with several distributed ledger technologies focused on commercial and technological requirements for efficiency, security, and operational procedures. Intelligent services, like Cortana Intelligence, are claimed to make Azure unique in its capabilities.