Microsoft Begins Accepting Bitcoin For Windows, Windows Phone And Xbox Purchases

If you want further proof that Microsoft is going through a transformative phrase, you may be interested to hear that the company has jumped on the bitcoin wagon.

The Redmond-based tech giant is now accepting bitcoins for buying games and other digital content on its Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox platforms, as the folks at Coindesk noticed today. Members of Reddit’s bitcoin subred noted that Microsoft appears to be working with payments firm Bitpay to make this happen.

Neither Microsoft nor Bitpay have formally announced the partnership or details, but the former does have a series of instructions related to bitcoin payments within its ‘billing help’ pages.

We’ve contacted both companies for further information, but did not hear back at the time of writing.

There are some caveats to note, however. Customers can use bitcoin to load money into a Microsoft wallet or to create digital gift cards, but direct payments with the cryptocurrency are not supported at this time.

Finally, bitcoin payments appear to be limited to customers in the U.S., according to feedback from Reddit members.

Microsoft is moving its business towards a new focus on services across a range of platforms under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella, who took the company reins in February.

The company is traditionally considered to be a slow moving giant with one foot stuck in the past. Accepting Bitcoin doesn’t directly correlate to its recent (and somewhat surprising) moves to make its core services like Office available on rival platforms and using premium pricing models, but the fact that it is ready to embrace an upcoming technology before many of its rivals is a sign that Microsoft’s ethos may have modernized.

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