Microsoft Unveils Platform for Minting Enterprise-Ready Crypto Tokens

Microsoft wants building blockchain tokens in the cloud to be as easy as plugging in a printer.

So says Marley‌ ‌Gray, principal architect at ‌Microsoft, following the announcement Monday of the Azure Blockchain Tokens platform.

Just like printers were once a pain to set up - with a mishmash of printer types and their respective device-specific drivers - Gray says enterprise-oriented crypto tokens currently suffer from the same pitfalls.

"It's the same analogy here for tokens and that is what we are building in Azure."

Announced at the Microsoft Ignite conference in Orlando, Fla., the platform allows businesses to choose from a growing set of token-building templates that conform to the Token Taxonomy Initiative - a standards push and enterprise consortium spearheaded by Gray.

"We are creating a platform in the cloud where any token within the TTI framework can snap into place," Gray said.

"So you can build applications where you want to use tokens with, for example, Dynamics, SAP, applications in the [Microsoft] Office suite or some other business automation process."

The Azure Blockchain Tokens platform is being released alongside a host of example tokens.

A spokeswoman for the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, which is where Gray kicked off the token taxonomy, said that while these examples are not yet in commercial production, all the specs are there to download. A tech team can basically say, "I want one of these," the spokeswoman said.

Gray, who is also the chair of the TTI, was keen to point out that Azure Blockchain Tokens is not just "a Microsoft thing."