Automated Performance Systems and Enforceability of Contracts: The Case of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is currently the largest cloud computing service provider and appears to have established an effective dominance, which together with its main market participant Microsoft Azure, amounts to more than half of the global market. With the introduction of additional services, namely blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) including Amazon Managed Blockchain (AMB) and its centralised quantum ledger database (QLDB), AWS aims at integrating different distributed ledger technology (DLT) -based network infrastructures into its platform. Here, AWS utilises predominantly open source technologies such as Corda, Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum. BaaS is expected to experience accelerated growth, in particular in the light of the current crisis and governmental policies stimulating businesses to be run online.