VMware: Blockchain for Ethereum Gains Customers, Builds Ecosystem Momentum

To drive enterprise adoption of Ethereum, VMware launched VMware Blockchain for Ethereum, available in beta. Two months since its debut, 100 customers have participated in the beta program. Today, VMware is announcing new enterprise features for an upcoming VMware Blockchain for Ethereum beta release. In addition, VMware is announcing strategic customer Tel Aviv Stock Exchange as well as new integrations with Fireblocks and Web3 Labs – innovating with VMware’s Ethereum-compatible blockchain platform.

Blockchain technology provides a revolutionary opportunity for business transformation for enterprises by allowing them to build distributed network ecosystems, multi-party applications and experiences of digital assets. VMware Blockchain for Ethereum builds on VMware’s enterprise blockchain platform for businesses to easily build, efficiently operate and rapidly scale Ethereum-based blockchain networks. It also gives customers flexibility and choice by adding Ethereum support in addition to existing support for the Daml smart contract language.

“The Strong Response to VMware Blockchain’s Ethereumbetalaunch is a testament to the vision we set as a company: To bring enterprise-grade blockchain technology to the biggest companies and brands on the planet. We are proud to have leaders such as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Fireblocks, Web3 Labs on this journey with us, says Kit Colbert, Chief Technology Officer at VMware.

Customer Co-innovation

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and Israel’s Ministry of Finance will prepare to issue government bonds on a new blockchain platform. Project Eden is a pilot issue of digital government bonds from digital asset technology leaders VMware and Fireblocks.

“The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is proud to partner with VMware and Fireblocks to build a globally recognized digital asset exchange to issue and trade tokenized government bonds and other digital assets in the future. The transformation platform will be based on leading blockchain, smart contract and tokenization technologies. We chose VMware Blockchain as a proven blockchain foundation to exceed stringent corporate requirements and scale TASE’s 5-year strategic plan. The platform is expected to benefit the exchange, its managers and their clients by reducing costs, shortening the time periods involved in issuance and clearing of government bonds, increased transparency and reduced risk,” said Orly Grinfeld, EVP Head of Clearing at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Ecosystem integrations

VMware is pleased to announce two new strategic integrations with VMware Blockchain for Ethereum customers that can be leveraged to rapidly build end-to-end solutions.

Fireblocks, is an award-winning digital asset and crypto technology platform used by over 1,500 customers. Fireblocks supports VMware Blockchain for Ethereum for institutional nature, digital asset issuance, exchange and custody.

“By leveraging the technical and security expertise of Fireblocks and VMware, regulated financial institutions such as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange can safely issue, store and transfer digital assets without jeopardizing the operational efficiency of clients and trading teams,” said Michael Shaulov, CEO. on Fireblocks. “As the world continues to become increasingly digitized, it is critical to have a reliable, trustworthy and scalable technology layer to enable enterprise customers to bring digital asset operations at scale across rapidly growing markets.”

Web3 Labs is a leading web3 and blockchain technology and strategy company specializing in enterprise solutions. Their Web3j library makes it easy to build Ethereum applications with the Java platform. Since its inception in 2016, it has been downloaded over two million times and is widely used across a range of enterprise blockchain initiatives from building next-generation financial market infrastructure to identity platforms. Together with their Eprirus data and analytics platform, which is coming to VMware Blockchain, Web3j provides key infrastructure for integrating blockchain networks with enterprises.

“We are extremely excited to partner with VMware, a world-class software brand to drive enterprise adoption of the Ethereum technology stack. VMware Blockchain for Ethereum supports Web3j out of the box. This allows java developers to work with Ethereum blockchains, without additional overhead of having to write your own integration code for the platform. We look forward to deepening the integrations with VMware Blockchain in the future,” said Conor Svensson, founder and CEO of Web3 Labs and best-selling author of The Blockchain Innovators Handbook.

What’s new in upcoming beta version

Built for enterprise use, VMware Blockchain for Ethereum is an EVM-compatible platform that will provide high performance, unique ZKP-based programmable privacy features, enterprise-class operations and governance capabilities.

In the next beta version (1), VMware continues to address enterprise Ethereum gaps with two new features:

Privacy SDK

The beta version will introduce a Privacy SDK that enables developers to build and test an end-to-end private token transfer dApp. The SDK consists of a client-side Zero Knowledge Proof library that interacts with on-chain Solidity token contracts using standard JavaScript integration libraries such as Ethersjs or Web3js. The token contracts can be amended to change token details, token supply and privacy budgets. The SDK enables the generation of Zero Knowledge proofs, and the token contracts on the chain leverage precompiled contract code to perform proof validation. This approach abstracts the complexity of Zero Knowledge Proof cryptography from developers, allowing them to focus on dApp and token design.

Steering controls

VMware’s approach is to leverage both smart contract-based governance actions to control network membership, as well as a powerful BFT reconfiguration framework. It enables upgrades, key management, addition/removal of consensus members, and other operational tasks to be performed in a trusted and authenticated manner (ie, operations performed with Byzantine trust guarantees by a set of untrusted operators). Together, these approaches will provide business customers with rich, yet user-friendly management functions that cover most business requirements.

The beta supports standard Ethereum APIs, commonly used development tools like Truffle, Hardhat, Remix, Web3j, Ethersjs, and wallets like MetaMask and Fireblocks to enable a seamless developer experience. To get started quickly, Solidity developers can deploy the new VMware Blockchain for Ethereum Developer Kit on their local machine or on a Linux VM on any cloud platform.

Join the beta program

Customers interested in joining the VMware Blockchain for Ethereum beta program, click here to sign up. For more information on VMware Blockchain for Ethereum, visit our blog, click here.

(1) The next beta version of VMware Blockchain for Ethereum is expected in VMware’s Q4 FY23.