Microsoft bans crypto mining on cloud services
In response to the increasing number of people using cryptocurrencies, Microsoft has quietly banned mining digital coins on its services. Also, its acquisition of Activision Blizzard was blocked earlier, citing unfair competition.
An update to the cloud services policy
On December 1, Microsoft quietly updated its policy for its various cloud services, including Dynamic 365 and Azure, to clarify that it does not allow cryptocurrency mining.
“Neither customer nor those that access an online service through customer may use an online service to mine cryptocurrency without Microsoft’s prior written approval.”
Microsoft Azure Services and Dynamic 365 policy
Although Microsoft isn’t making the new policy a big deal, Daniil Biktimirov, the channel sales lead for Central and Eastern Europe, noted in a blog post that the company updated it to prevent mining for cryptocurrencies on its various services explicitly.
Microsoft also said it changed to prevent customers from being affected by cryptocurrency mining due to the potential disruption it could cause to its online services, noting that this activity could be linked to abuse attacks and cyber fraud.
The company said it would consider developing new security measures for its services. One of the most likely options that Microsoft would consider is testing and research for security detections related to cryptocurrency mining.
Blocking Activision Blizzard
Meanwhile, the US is suing Microsoft to stop the company from buying gaming giant Activision Blizzard. The regulators cited concerns about the deal’s effect on competition as it will use the gaming studio to build its metaverse.
The company saw the purchase as the biggest deal in Microsoft’s history and hence stated that they would fight the regulators. Brad Smith, the company’s president, said the company had “full confidence” in its case.
Crypto mining bans are spreading out
In September last year, Microsoft quietly ended its blockchain project on Azure which was part of its online services.
Some reports claim that Microsoft’s cloud computing systems have experienced significant capacity issues due to the lack of supply-chain capacity in the past few years. Hence, it’s believed that several data centers will be limited until early 2023.
Google also prohibits its customers from mining cryptocurrencies on its services without prior approval. Other platforms, such as Oracle, have banned cloud mining completely and require written permission before allowing mining on their networks.
