Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) - Get Report is developing technology that it contends will make blockchain-based systems faster and more private, as the tech titan looks for ways to speed up the use of the distributed database software by businesses, Reuters reports.  

The blockchain is a digital ledger in which transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency are recorded chronologically and publicly.

Microsoft announced on Thursday that it was working to develop a system called Coco Framework, technology that connects to various blockchain networks to solve problems that have slowed their wider adoption, including privacy matters.

Coco will be ready and made open source by 2018, Microsoft said.

"We expect this to be the foundation for blockchain for enterprise," Mark Russinovich, chief technology officer of Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing division, said. "We think blockchain is going to potentially transform every industry."

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