In the wake of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies’ lackluster performance following their historic rally in 2021, industry giants Goldman Sachs and Microsoft are investing in technologies that could pave the way for the resurgence of the bull run​​. The Bitcoin price, despite almost doubling from its late 2022 low, has struggled to regain momentum this year, with Ethereum also being outperformed by a new memecoin craze.
Goldman Sachs and Microsoft, which has gained significant attention this year through its investment in AI-developer OpenAI, are backing the Canton Network, a new blockchain designed to streamline financial markets. This comes at a time when other significant financial giants are building out crypto infrastructure in the bear market.
“We look forward to helping the financial community build and scale cloud-enabled web3 applications on Azure while harnessing the power of AI to improve the user experience and drive developer adoption,” said Rashmi Misra, general manager of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies at Microsoft​.
Canton Network has garnered support from prominent entities including Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, S&P Global, Moody’s, BNP Paribas, Cboe Global Markets, and Paxos. This emerging blockchain platform, slated for a testing rollout in July, aims to address prevalent cryptocurrency challenges such as privacy deficits, data control, cross-chain compatibility, and scalability.
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The Canton Network is set to connect trading platforms, including those of Deutsche Börse and Goldman Sachs. Recent revelations indicate that its monthly notional traded volume surpasses that of most active crypto tokens.
In early 2023, two financial powerhouses, Fidelity and BlackRock, independently announced their entry into the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and cryptocurrency landscape. Fidelity launched its crypto trading platform for its 37 million users, offering commission-free transactions for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is reportedly developing a built-in Ethereum crypto wallet for its Edge browser. This feature will enable users to send and receive cryptocurrencies and NFTs without requiring additional extensions.
Although Microsoft had previously accepted Bitcoin for digital goods in 2014, it removed it as a payment option in July 2021 due to the cryptocurrency’s volatility and risk. However, Microsoft users can still utilize Bitcoin to fund their accounts.
