Microsoft has announced a partnership with Nasdaq to propel blockchain technology. Azure Blockchain will be integrated on Nasdaq’s Financial Framework, which offers services and software to exchanges and traders.
The two have created a “ledger agnostic blockchain capability that supports a multi-layer strategy”. In non-technical terms, the system will mean extremely secure communication between Financial Framework’s core, customer technologies, and ecosystem middleware. Blockchain will handle transactions and contracts for a verified and scalable system.
“With multiple blockchains in use by various industry participants, we believe that the combination of NFF and Microsoft’s blockchain technology can remove some of the project complexities that exist in this realm,” saidTom Fay, senior vice president of enterprise architecture at Nasdaq. “Additionally, as more industries move towards capital markets technology and structures, we see the potential for blockchain to provide value in secure, frictionless and instantaneous matching of buyers and sellers.”
A Lucrative Partnership
For customers, it means the easy use of multiple blockchains with one interface. According to Microsoft, Capital markets won’t need ledger skills to use Financial Framework-based apps, but they’ll still get all the benefits.
To commemorate the occasion, Microsoft posted an image of the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, featuring the announcement and a giant Microsoft logo.
“At Microsoft, we are honored to partner with Nasdaq to evolve their innovative market-enabling technology,” said general manager of Microsoft Azure Matthew Kerner in a blog post. “As the leading enterprise platform company, we are fundamentally committed to the success of our customers. We are excited to work with Nasdaq to apply cloud and blockchain technologies to industry problems that they deeply understand, and enable their continued success.”
