Through the partnership, customers of Azure, Microsoft's cloud-based business service, will have access to tools that will allow them to experiment with and build cloud-based blockchain applications, from securities trading to cross-border payments to corporate accounting, and offer them to their own customers.

ConsenSys was founded in October 2014 by Joseph Lubin, who co-founded the Ethereum Foundation with Vitalik Buterin. Based in Brooklyn and staffed by 60 full-time developers and 30 consultants worldwide, the company formed ConsenSys Enterprise to develop large-scale blockchain solutions.

Azure clients will be able to rapidly prototype blockchain applications, from accounting to logistics to cross-border payments and settlement, and deploy their applications to the cloud. Firms that create products on Azure's blockchain service can choose whether to release the product to the general public or control who has access to them.

ConsenSys is building and maintaining the service, and Microsoft is essentially providing the distribution platform, which in this case is Azure. ConsenSys isn't getting any revenue under the partnership, but plans to offer consulting and other high-end services to Azure clients. The new cloud-based blockchain app development and deployment service, dubbed Ethereum Blockchain-as-a-Service (E BaaS), will be formally revealed at Ethereum's Developer Conference, DEVCON, in London on November 10.