Microsoft is shutting down Azure Blockchain Service.
No new deployments or members are possible, but existing deployments have until September 10 to migrate to another platform.
Microsoft first began offering blockchain technology on its cloud platform back in 2015, but just resold other companies’ offerings.
In 2019, it launched the fully managed service Azure Blockchain Service, for the formation, management and governance of consortium blockchain networks.
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“Once you have completed your data copy, it is recommended that you delete the Azure Blockchain member resources,” the company said in an announcement. “You will continue to get billed while these resources exist.”
The company did not explain why it was ending the blockchain service, which was launched during a period of intense hype for the technology, first developed for Bitcoin. While blockchain still has its adherents, enterprise adoption for large-scale real-world applications has been slow.
With the end of its managed service, Microsoft has recommended users switch to the ConsenSys Quorum service, an open-source protocol layer for developing with Ethereum.
“Expanding our relationship with Microsoft helps organizations take advantage of ConsenSys Quorum and Quorum customer support to offer users an enterprise-grade managed blockchain service that can be effortlessly set-up and deployed,” said Joseph Lubin, founder & CEO of ConsenSys.
“We are excited to bring the awarding-winning Quorum product to Azure users as the next step in our collaboration with Microsoft.”
