Amazon Web Services Teams with DCG on Blockchain Endeavor
Amazon Web Services will partner with Digital Currency Group (DCG) on a platform that will allow companies to experiment with blockchain technology, according to Forbes .
Blockchain providers in DCG’s portfolio will be able to work in a secure environment with financial institutions, enterprise technology companies and insurance companies.
A blockchain can make financial services more efficient and more economical. The technology could potentially shrink the financial services industry as the software handles functions that middlemen currently execute.
AWS Active In Blockchain
Scott Mullins, AWS head of worldwide financial services business development, said distributed ledger technology leads any current discussion on innovation. AWS is partnering with financial institutions and blockchain companies to boost innovation and support frictionless experimentation.
DCG will provide a laboratory environment for blockchain technology and enterprise experimentation on AWS, he noted.
DCG’s portfolio includes more than 70 blockchain and bitcoin companies in more than 20 countries. Financial institutions such as Western Union, New York Life, MasterCard and Canadian Bank of Commerce have invested in DCG, as have the venture arms of Foxconn, Transamerica, Prudential, CME Group and other venture capital firms.
DCG’s Active Blockchain Role
DCG’s startups include Chain, which received an investment from Visa, Fiserv, Citi, Capital One and Nasdaq. Chain released its Chain Open Standard on Monday, which is a protocol for privately, rapidly and securely processing as much as tens of thousands of blockchain network transactions.
Chain developed the standard in conjunction with First Data, Capital One, Fidelity, UFJ Financial Group, State Street and Mitsubishi.
DCG has also invested in RSK Labs, which reportedly is partnering with banks in Brazil and Argentina as well as the World Bank.
DCG enterprise customers Blockstream, Onename, BigchainDB and Everledger are already using AWS for blockchain experiments.
Meltem Demirors, DCG’s director of community, said one of the company’s fundamental beliefs is that the venture capital model must evolve to allow disruption of financial services, and that AWS was a natural collaborator since most of DCG’s portfolio relies on the AWS Cloud.
Why DCG Chose AWS
As AWS considered ways to help its portfolio companies scale and grow while supporting experimentation and corporate discovery, it became clear DCG would have to collaborate with a technology infrastructure provider like AWS to create a platform for experimentation.
Similar partnerships exist among other software companies and financial institutions.
R3CEV, a consortium of 44 banks developing standards for distributed ledger technology, partnered with Microsoft to provide a “blockchain as a service” in the cloud.
IBM, which also has a cloud-based blockchain, released a framework on Friday for operating blockchain networks securely, allowing enterprise players in financial services, government and health care to work on a blockchain while staying compliant with data security regulations.
Investment Pours Into DCG
Western Union invested recently in DCG in a new funding round, CCN.com reported. The terms and amount of investment for the funding round wasn’t disclosed in an announcement from Barry Silbert, founder of DCG.
With the Western Union announcement, DCG also named two new board members in Glen Hutchins, the co-founder of private equity firm Silver Lake Partners and a director of AT&T and Nasdaq. He is also a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
