Bitcoin: Microsoft finally prefers to distance itself

The current volatility Bitcoin is the delight of investors and speculators, but it does not really fit the business of cryptocurrency and platforms that had tried to integrate payment options to open to cryptocurrencies. This was the case for Microsoft: the publisher had not really opened the possibility of buying products online with bitcoin but cryptocurrency enthusiasts could take advantage of an option allowing them to feed their account Microsoft thanks to bitcoins.



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This option, introduced in 2014, was a Microsoft experiment set up at a time when bitcoin was a bit more stable. Users could choose to credit their account with a dollar amount, predefined by Microsoft, and could then choose to pay this transaction in bitcoin.

The corresponding amount was transferred to the user's account, which could then be used to purchase the services and software offered on the Microsoft platform. This service, set up in 2014, was open to US users of Microsoft platforms and was the result of a partnership with the Bitpay exchange platform.

But according to the Bleeping Computer website, Microsoft has recently put an end to this possibility. Several testimonies published on reddit confirm this change. On the other hand, Microsoft did not make an official comment on this decision, we contacted their press department to find out more and we will update this paper if we obtain details. In 2016 already, Microsoft had already blocked this option by mistake.

But Microsoft is not the first to distance itself from bitcoin. The Steam dematerialized game sales platform has recently announced a similar decision. It has stopped the sale of games and services in bitcoin, an option that had been proposed for some time. Steam spokespersons explained that this decision was due to the significant volatility of the value of bitcoin as well as the explosion of transaction fees that accompany transactions on the bitcoin blockchain.

The Steam publisher therefore felt that as things stand, continuing to support payment options in bitcoin was "untenable" for him. It is therefore possible that the reasons that prompted Microsoft to discontinue service are quite similar.