Dive Brief:

• More than 30 companies are collaborating on a blockchain consortium that wants to make it easier for enterprises to use Ethereum blockchain code, according to Reuters. Participants include Intel Corp, Microsoft Corp, and JPMorgan Chase, among others.
• The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) will work to improve "privacy, security and scalability" of Ethereum blockchain, a type of blockchain that can be used to develop decentralized applications.
• EEA hopes to connect large companies, startups, academics and tech vendors to figure out how to use the technology in a number of enterprises processes.

Dive Insight:

Blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin, is best known in the financial industry. This initiative is expected to further drive the distributed ledger technology to a wide range of enterprise uses. The rub comes with the current difficulty businesses encounter with blockchain systems. 

Several companies and organizations have formed groups to explore how they can better utilize blockchain. In December, IBM announced it is building a blockchain ecosystem to help expedite development of blockchain-based business applications. The EEA is a next step, with many more to come.