The Redmond giant has decided block cryptocurrency mining using its online services, a curious move by Microsoft that, however, does not imply an absolute veto of said activity, since it is still possible to mine if we get a permit company specific.
This change has been introduced through an amendment to Microsoft’s “Universal Online Services License Terms”, which came into effect earlier this month. That modification says very clearly that it is no longer allowed to use online services to mine cryptocurrencies, unless we obtain prior permission.
Microsoft’s new approach has a very simple and very clear explanation. On the one hand it is a response to the decline of cryptocurrencies, and on the other hand it is an attempt to protect everyone who uses its cloud solutions. It is also important to note that the Redmond giant It is not the first to follow this pathOther majors such as Oracle and OVH also do not generally allow the use of their cryptocurrency mining solutions, and other companies such as Digital Ocean and Google Cloud require written permission, while Amazon Web Services restricts activity in its free tier .
Microsoft recommends, to avoid problems, that its customers get written approval to do that activity with its online services, but it has not specified how the request should be made or where it should go. According to the source of this information, the company also made this decision because uncontrolled mining can cause interruptions and problems in its services, and because miners are often linked to fraud and attacks.
On a personal note, I must say that it seems to me a wise and totally understandable decision on the part of Microsoft. It is still not clear how many miners may have been affected by this change, but the truth is that with the plummeting value of the most important cryptocurrencies, mining them is, today, very difficult to justify in economic terms. We cannot rule out that in a while these will rebound and that we may even find ourselves with a new bubble, but today the reality is what it is.
