Microsoft is turning off its corporate Azure Blockchain Service on September 10 and will not accept any new deployments effective immediately, with no official explanation provided. Large corporate customers who use Azure Blockchain include J.P. Morgan, GE Aviation, Singapore Airlines, Starbucks, and Xbox according to its website. The announcement was made in a low key post on the Microsoft documentation site on Monday, informing all current customers to migrate to alternate services. ConsenSys Quorum Blockchain Service was the only suggestion and ConsenSys founder and CEO Joseph Lubin welcomed the Azure refugees: “Expanding our relationship with Microsoft helps organizations take advantage …

Binance’s attempts to bridge traditional markets with the cryptocurrency space in the form of fractionalized stock tokens has drawn the attention of Germany’s financial regulator. The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, otherwise known as BaFin, warned on Wednesday that the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange could face heavy fines for launching security-tracking tokens without an accompanying investor prospectus. Binance launched fractionalized stock tokens for Apple, MicroStrategy and Microsoft on Monday, adding to tokens for Coinbase and Tesla, which launched earlier in the month. The exchange had employed German equity firm CM-Equity AG to hold its “depository portfolio of underlying securities,” which, Binance …

Top crypto asset exchange Binance has announced it will list three new stock tokens over the coming week, following the launch of tokens tracking the performance of Tesla and Coinbase shares earlier this month. On Monday, Binance announced it will launch tokenized stock pairings for leading business intelligence firm MicroStrategy (MSTR) in addition to multinational tech firms Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). The tokens will allow users to trade fractionalized units of the share tokens, with minimum trade sizing set at one one-hundredth of a token. Binance’s MSTR tokens are slated to go live at 1:30 pm UTC on Monday, …

A decentralized autonomous organization that governs a growing number of protocols says the initial vision for DeFi “has been corrupted by greed, inefficiency and sheer incompetence” — and says a drastic new approach is needed to ensure this sector reaches its full potential. According to Jigstack, the Ethereum landscape is fragmented, with thousands of DApps that offer varying degrees of quality. Millions of dollars in user funds have been lost, hacked, stolen or fraudulently misplaced in the past year — and “everything the industry promised to deliver has yet to be brought to life in a professional manner.” Jigstack’s founders …

Amid another bullish trend on cryptocurrency markets, total crypto market capitalization has broken a new historical record just unde $2 trillion. The market cap of all cryptocurrencies surpassed $1.9 trillion on March 31, according to data from major crypto monitoring resources like CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap. The total market cap reached as high as $1.99 trillion earlier on the day, hitting a new all-time record. Following a subsequent correction, the total crypto market cap has slipped slightly, dropping to $1.89 trillion at the time of writing. In hitting its new historical high, the total crypto market capitalization has overtaken the market …

Microsoft has been sending mixed signals when it comes to its true intentions regarding Bitcoin (BTC) as well as the cryptocurrency market in general. On one hand, Microsoft president Brad Smith gave an interview earlier this year, claiming that the multinational was not even the least bit interested in dabbling in Bitcoin, stating that Tesla’s move to invest $1.5 billion had not changed anything for the company. However, just a couple of days ago, the tech giant seemed to showcase a change of heart by reportedly releasing a poll online asking its customers how they would like to pay for …

For Brad Smith, president of the Microsoft Corporation, fintech firms have no business issuing private digital currencies. According to Bloomberg, Smith gave these remarks while speaking at an online conference organized by the Bank for International Settlements. As part of his address, Smith argued that money supply should exclusively be under the aegis of governments and central banks. Smith said that it is important that only entities that protect the common good should be left to control currency operations, adding, “I am not a big fan myself of encouraging or asking or wanting us [tech firms] to participate in the …

Tech giant Microsoft seems to be considering introducing Bitcoin (BTC) payments to its Xbox gaming console online store. According to a Sunday Reddit post on r/XboxSeriesX, Microsoft has put out a survey asking Xbox users about their preferred payment options at its online store. “Which of these other payment methods would you like to use on Xbox?,” the purported survey asks, listing Bitcoin as one of the potential payment methods. The same photo has also been circulating across several other subreddits including r/Ethtrader and r/Bitcoin. Microsoft is now asking Xbox users about #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/TjuY18L5Wh — Documenting Bitcoin (@DocumentingBTC) March 21, …

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has issued a warning to would-be Bitcoin (BTC) buyers looking to follow Elon Musk’s investment strategy. Speaking to Bloomberg’s Emily Chang, Gates suggested Musk had access to sophisticated trade management techniques that the average investor isn’t privy to. When asked about the susceptibility of Bitcoin to tumble in price in reaction to a mere tweet — undoubtedly a reference to Musk’s own social media posts — Gates said Musk was probably insulated from such market crashes: “Elon has tons of money and he’s very sophisticated so, you know, I don’t worry that his Bitcoin would randomly …

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is the latest prominent tech figure to seemingly try to stay out of the fray when it comes to questions about Bitcoin adoption. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, Gates said he had neither invested in Bitcoin (BTC) nor wanted to make a prediction on any price movements. "I don’t own Bitcoin, I’m not short Bitcoin, so I’ve taken a neutral view," said Gates. "Bitcoin can go up and down just based on the mania or whatever the views are. I don’t have a way of predicting how that will progress." "I don't …

Microsoft, the second-largest company in the United States, does not apparently have any short-term plans to put Bitcoin (BTC) on its balance sheet, according to the firm’s president Brad Smith. In a Feb. 16 interview with CNN’s Julia Chatterley, Smith still hinted that Microsoft could still change its mind about a Bitcoin investment. When asked whether Microsoft is discussing any cryptocurrency diversification plans following Tesla’s $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin, the Microsoft president said that he is not aware of such discussions: “I haven’t heard any new conversation about Bitcoin. But let me just say, if we change our investment …

Tech giant Microsoft and blockchain developer Enjin have teamed up to release a game celebrating women in science that rewards players with Minecraft-compatible non-fungible tokens. “Azure Space Mystery” is an interactive, fictional online game designed to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Players work to save the International Space Station, and on completion they can claim a limited edition NFT. During gameplay, players will also learn about prominent European female scientists including Mary Somerville, Caroline Herschel, and Raymonde de Laroche. The NFTs are compatible and transferable with the popular game Minecraft, which had 131 million monthly …