Azure Heroes: Microsoft Revives Its Non-Fungible Tokens Program

In November 2017, we saw the game CryptoKitties going viral in the blockchain news at the time – introducing the concept of non-fungible tokens in the minds of developers and investors in the crypto community. Still, 2019 seems to be the year when these tokens (known as NFTs) have gained mainstream attention. In the latest updates, we can see that Microsoft’s blockchain based cloud platform Azure released its own non-fungible programs named “Azure Heroes” with the main aim of rewarding its developer community.

Designed to empower technical practitioners of all backgrounds, Azure Heroes is a program which has a clear objective and aims to create a tool that will inspire the community to learn, coach and build on Azure while promoting healthy and inclusive behaviour.

What’s interesting as the latest Ethereum news show is that the issuance and transactions of “Badger” collectibles will be carried out on the Ethereum network and would therefore allow winners to hold them as NFTs. The tokens were created in partnership with the platform Enjin – one that caters to the video game industry.

In order to earn one of these Badgers as part of the Azure Heroes initiative, developers must be first nominated (either by themselves or the community) and selected by the community based on their performance. Winners of Badgers will then be provided with a QR code that can be used to redeem their Badgers via their Enjin wallet – where it can be transferred to any other NFT-compatible Ethereum address.

All of this shows that NFTs can be used in a lot of industries and fields. The diversification of use cases of NFTs is growing especially with the case multi-layer blockchains. NFTs can literally signify ownership of high value or sensitive physical, illiquid assets such as artworks or real estate.

Through Azure Heroes, Microsoft has made a lot of pioneering efforts toward blockchain adoption. In May 2019, the company also unveiled its Azure Blockchain Services suite which allows for the formation, management and governance of consortium blockchain networks.

“Azure is locked in a battle to differentiate itself with AWS, Oracle, and Heroku among others. If nothing else, this creates visibility and further engages Azure’s existing communities,” the director at the CryptoAssets Institute Ethan Pierse recently said.