This article is based on reporting originally published at cloudcomputing-news.net in August 2019.
Cypherium Adds Google Cloud to Its Growing List of Cloud Partnerships
New York-based enterprise blockchain startup Cypherium announced in August 2019 that it had joined the Google Cloud technology partner program, making Google Cloud the third major cloud provider to formalise a relationship with the company. Cypherium had previously partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) — joining the AWS Marketplace in May 2019 — and with IBM Cloud.
The stated goal of the Google Cloud collaboration is to give enterprises a full-stack solution for deploying distributed ledger technology (DLT). Sky Guo, co-founder and CEO of Cypherium, framed the partnership as a response to accelerating demand for DLT in financial services and adjacent industries.
“The growing demand in the market for DLT solutions in the financial industry and beyond drives our commitment to this collaboration. Cloud customers can rest assured that the blockchain solutions they implement using Cypherium Enterprise are clad in robust security, and capable of delivering rapid transaction speeds for its smart contracts and achieving fast data processing from its Java virtual machine.”
Sky Guo, Co-founder and CEO, Cypherium
The Enterprise Scalability Problem Cypherium Is Trying to Solve
Scalability remains one of the central barriers to enterprise blockchain adoption. Many organisations have run successful proof-of-concept or pilot projects, but moving those workloads into production has proven difficult when underlying networks cannot sustain the transaction volumes that real business processes require.
Cypherium claims its platform can handle up to 5,000 transactions per second (TPS). The platform uses a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for smart contract execution, a design choice the company says enables faster data processing and broader developer accessibility given the existing JVM ecosystem.
For context, other blockchain projects were also pushing throughput benchmarks at the time. The Telos Foundation, for example, had claimed a record of 12 million transactions across a 24-hour period. Douglas Horn, architect at Telos and author of the project’s whitepaper, summarised the adoption chicken-and-egg problem succinctly:
“Until the network’s there, built and active, that it can be rolled out on, nobody’s going to roll out, because they’re dooming themselves to failure.”
Douglas Horn, Architect, Telos Foundation
Cloud Providers Are Actively Courting Blockchain Projects
The Cypherium announcement reflects a broader pattern visible in 2019: major cloud providers were actively building out their blockchain partner ecosystems. Around the same time, aelf — a decentralised cloud computing blockchain platform — became available on Microsoft Azure in addition to AWS. The trend points to cloud vendors viewing blockchain-as-a-service as a meaningful growth category, and blockchain startups viewing cloud marketplace listings as a path to enterprise credibility and distribution.
For Cypherium specifically, being listed across Google Cloud, AWS, and IBM Cloud simultaneously gives enterprise buyers the flexibility to deploy on whichever cloud they already standardise on, lowering friction for adoption.
What the Partnership Means in Practice
Joining a cloud provider’s technology partner program typically involves several concrete benefits for a startup:
- Marketplace visibility: Enterprises already spending on cloud credits can discover and procure the blockchain solution through a familiar commercial channel.
- Technical integration: Partner programs often include access to cloud-native services, APIs, and reference architectures that make it easier to build tightly integrated solutions.
- Co-marketing opportunities: Cloud providers and partners frequently collaborate on case studies, conference presence, and joint customer engagements.
- Credibility signalling: For enterprise buyers evaluating nascent technology, a cloud marketplace listing from a major provider acts as a form of vetting.
Guo positioned the Google Cloud relationship as strategically important beyond just distribution: “Google Cloud and Cypherium are bound by a perpetual need to innovate. The future of commerce and blockchain are inextricably linked and we are well-positioned to leverage Google Cloud’s expansive resources and best-in-class infrastructure to accelerate the use of the technology to solve real-world problems faced by businesses today.”
Key Takeaways for DevOps and Enterprise Architects
- Cypherium targets enterprise deployments with a claimed throughput of up to 5,000 TPS and JVM-based smart contract execution.
- As of August 2019, the platform was available through three major cloud marketplaces: AWS, IBM Cloud, and Google Cloud.
- Transaction throughput and production-grade scalability remain the critical evaluation criteria when selecting an enterprise blockchain platform.
- Multi-cloud availability is increasingly a table-stakes requirement for enterprise blockchain vendors seeking adoption in large organisations with existing cloud commitments.
Note: This article covers announcements made in 2019. Readers should verify the current status of Cypherium’s platform, partnerships, and product capabilities directly with the vendor before making procurement or architectural decisions.