Microsoft joins the race of banning Crypto mining on cloud services

By Nidhi Bhardwaj: As per the news on 15 December, Microsoft announced a ban on crypto mining from its online services in order to safeguard its cloud services. Moreover, the company also introduced restrictions as a part of the universal licence terms of Microsoft Online Services on 1 December. They further stated, “mining cryptocurrency is prohibited without prior Microsoft approval.”

Well, cloud mining is a way of investing in crypto, which allows users to mine without further requirements of equipment or hardware. This aspect of no cost attached has enthused the interest of customers to engage in cloud mining, as per the data from the blockchain research group, Blockchain Council revealed.

Microsoft Online Services is Microsoft’s hosted-software offering and is a component of the firm’s software as a service strategy. These services include Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing network, which is known to offer cryptocurrency mining on certain subscription types. As previously reported, Microsoft also experimented with blockchain services on Azure, but quietly terminated its Azure Blockchain Service project in September last year.

Why are companies prohibiting cloud mining?

Amid the growing concerns over cyber fraud and attacks, Microsoft in its ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ section mentioned obtaining pre-approval permission to use any of Microsoft Online Services for crypto mining.

Microsoft, in its latest crypto mining restriction said, “We made this change to further protect our customers and mitigate the risk of disrupting or impairing services in the Microsoft Cloud.”

As per the reports, Microsoft cloud computing systems have been hit by storage problems in the current years, given the aspect of continuous supply chain limitations. Companies like Google, Oracle, and Digital Ocean have also banned customer engagement in crypto mining without prior permission.