Microsoft Outage Exposes Vulnerabilities of Centralized Systems, Crypto Remains Unscathed

• An outage in Microsoft’s operations has caused significant disruptions across several sectors, exposing the vulnerabilities of centralized systems.
• However, the crypto industry remains unaffected by the situation.
• Crypto executives give credit to the underlying blockchain technology.

A glitch in Microsoft’s operations has caused significant disruptions across several sectors of the global tech system. 

The London Stock Exchange, airlines, and banks were hit hard following the tech giant’s early-morning challenges. However, the crypto industry remains unaffected, with industry participants praising the sector’s robustness.

As of the time of writing, no major crypto exchange, DeFi project, or blockchain protocol has reported disruption of operations. 

Top cryptocurrencies have maintained their trends without experiencing unusual volatility. Crypto executives attribute this resilience to the underlying blockchain technology, which they argue is superior to financial intermediaries whose operations were significantly affected by the glitch.

Meanwhile, apart from financial institutions, several airlines have grounded flights due to the Microsoft outage. The cause of the outage remains unclear. 

There were no official reports on whether the outage was linked to Microsoft’s earlier notice that CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company serving multiple industries, was down across the world.

However, Australian telecommunications company Telstra informed customers via X (formerly Twitter) that their inability to reach the company was due to a global issue affecting both Microsoft and CrowdStrike.

If you’re having holdups when trying to reach us this afternoon, it’s because of a global issue affecting both Microsoft and CrowdStrike.

There’s no impact to calls to our Triple Zero call centres or our fixed and mobile network.

— Telstra (@Telstra) July 19, 2024

The situation was similar in other parts of the world, including the UK, where the BBC reported a disruption in the operations of the National Health Service’s system that coordinates appointments for family doctors. 

There were also reports of Sky News going off air and railway firms experiencing delays due to “widespread technology issues.”

The incident highlights the vulnerability of centralized systems and the interconnectedness of the global tech infrastructure. The crypto sector, at least, appears to have weathered the storm due to its decentralized nature.