Amazon is making its entry into the blockchain space, via a new tool available through its AWS (Amazon Web Service) to “create and manage scalable blockchain networks” via open-blockchain networks like Ethereum.

Why Ethereum?

Amazon has said that “Ethereum is well suited for highly distributed blockchain networks where transparency of data for all members is important”. They gave the example of a “customer loyalty blockchain network that allows any retailer in the network to independently verify a user’s activity across all members to redeem benefits”.

In the press release, Amazon said that businesses can setup a blockchain network spanning multiple AWS accounts in the management console. AMB supports two frameworks — a business’s choice of Ethereum or Hyperledger Fabric. The former is the fruit of the combined labours of IBM and the Linux Foundation — part of the Hyperledger Project, which features as part of IBM Blockchain, a Performance-as-a-Service offering.

It must also be noted that Ethereum isn’t actually supported yet, with a planned schedule to come online in the summer.

How it will work

Amazon Managed Blockchain will be used to “easily create and manage scalable blockchain networks”. The new service will launch on Hyperledger Fabric today, with “Ethereum coming soon”.

The new product promises customers an ability to “set up and manage a scalable blockchain network” with “just a few clicks”.

In addition to making it easy to set up and manage blockchain networks, Amazon Managed Blockchain provides simple APIs that allow customers to vote on memberships in their networks and to scale up or down more easily. Amazon Managed Blockchain offers a range of instances with different combinations of computing and memory capacity to give customers the ability to choose the right mix of resources for their blockchain applications.

Amazon Managed Blockchain secures certificates for access control using AWS Key Management Service technology, eliminating the need for customers to set up their own secure certificate storage.

For over a decade, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud computing platform. Today, customers like Apple spend over $30 million a month on the business units services.

On the back of interest in the decentralised open blockchain from the likes of Elon Musk, it looks like Ethereum is fast becoming the platform of choice for industry adoption in the form of this new venture with Amazon’s web services division.