[2018-01-11] Microsoft Welcomes Back Bitcoin

[adel hmdt]

Microsoft is welcoming Bitcoin back to its Windows and Xbox online stores.

The move comes after the technology giant stopped letting customers use Bitcoin as payment for online games and apps earlier this week because of its volatility, tech website Bleeping Computereport said on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

Microsoft (MSFT, -0.53%) has since reversed course and is now once again letting people add Bitcoin to their Microsoft-sanctioned digital wallets that they can then redeem as dollars, the company told Australian news website news.com.au on Wednesday.

“We’ve restored bitcoin as a payment option in our store after working with our provider to ensure lower bitcoin amounts would be redeemable by customers,” the spokesperson told the publication. Microsoft first started accepting bitcoin as a payment method in 2014.

Bitcoin has had a wild ride over the past 12 months, surging to record highs one day and then tumbling the next. In mid-December, the cryptocurrency almost hit $20,000, but just a few days later it dropped over 22% to $15,262. On Wednesday, bitcoin was trading as high as $14,694, according to Coindesk.

Microsoft’s temporary pause on Bitcoin in its online stores follows a similar decision by video gaming service Steam. In December, Steam said it would stop accepting Bitcoin due to its “high fees and volatility.” However, Steam said it’s possible that it would accept Bitcoin at a later date.

Update: 3:39 PM PST.
Microsoft confirmed that it has indeed restored bitcoin to its online stores.

source: http://fortune.com/2018/01/10/microsoft-bitcoin-temporary-halt/

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[hatshepsut93]

Just like with Steam, Microsoft wasn't really accepting Bitcoin payments, they are using BitPay which acts as a proxy and gives fiat to Microsoft. This means that real merchant adoption still isn't happening on a wide scale, because services like BitPay are centralized middlemen, which were meant to be removed by Bitcoin, according to the whitepaper. And I think that scalability is not the biggest problem that prevents adoption, so even after Lightning will be deployed, big companies would still be hesitant to receive Bitcoin directly, because of volatility and undecided legality - we see that governments only now start exploring cryptocurrencies and trying to ban or regulate them.

[casparthefriendly]

Just like with Steam, Microsoft wasn't really accepting Bitcoin payments, they are using BitPay which acts as a proxy and gives fiat to Microsoft. This means that real merchant adoption still isn't happening on a wide scale, because services like BitPay are centralized middlemen, which were meant to be removed by Bitcoin, according to the whitepaper. And I think that scalability is not the biggest problem that prevents adoption, so even after Lightning will be deployed, big companies would still be hesitant to receive Bitcoin directly, because of volatility and undecided legality - we see that governments only now start exploring cryptocurrencies and trying to ban or regulate them.

This is an excellent point and I am worried that this may be true future of bitcoin....centralized banking.

Look at the prominence and dominance of Coinbase and emergence of Bitpay.  People don't want to stray to far from their American Expresses and Visa cards and I am concern that this type of bitcoin use will be the "norm".  Plus, it adds stability for merchants and helps them mitigate the  current volatility of Bitcoin.

[hatshepsut93]

This is an excellent point and I am worried that this may be true future of bitcoin....centralized banking.

Look at the prominence and dominance of Coinbase and emergence of Bitpay.  People don't want to stray to far from their American Expresses and Visa cards and I am concern that this type of bitcoin use will be the "norm".  Plus, it adds stability for merchants and helps them mitigate the  current volatility of Bitcoin.

I think so many people are keeping their coins on exchanges and other online services because they've come into Bitcoin to get rich quick, they don't understand why it was created and its core values, and "decentralization" is just a buzzword for so many people. And what it is worse, when people trade security for convenience, they get neither - Coinbase have ridiculously high withdrawal fees because they use bad fee estimation algorithms, don't use SegWit and don't batch their transactions. This is just one more reason to stay away from centralized services - when they get too big, they stop caring about their customers.