Microsoft official announcement of bitcoin integration!

[knight22]

“For us, this is about giving people options and helping them do more on their devices and in the cloud,” says Eric Lockard, corporate vice president of Universal Store at Microsoft. “The use of digital currencies such as bitcoin, while not yet mainstream, is growing beyond the early enthusiasts. We expect this growth to continue and allowing people to use bitcoin to purchase our products and services now allows us to be at the front edge of that trend.”

http://blogs.microsoft.com/firehose/2014/12/11/now-you-can-exchange-bitcoins-to-buy-apps-games-and-more-for-windows-windows-phone-and-xbox/

[turvarya]

I am confussed:

Starting Thursday in the U.S., by using BitPay, the world’s leading bitcoin payment processor, you can trade-in bitcoin – at current market value — and add it to your Microsoft account.

That sound like, you can just pay in the US.

There is a cap on how much you can exchange per day: $1,000 (or its equivalent in your country or region’s currency) to your Microsoft account on any given day

That sounds like, you can also do it in other countries

[ChuckBuck]

Freaking.  Awesome.

Who would've thunk it, Microsoft leading the way.  Google and Apple are sure to have noticed.

Apple is kinda stuck, because they invested all that tech into Apple Pay.  Their still all about their "ecosystem".

Google though, can easily incorporate Bitcoin into their Google Wallet.

Balls in their court, Microsoft just drained a 3 pointer.

[herzmeister]

I am confussed:

There is a cap on how much you can exchange per day: $1,000 (or its equivalent in your country or region’s currency) to your Microsoft account on any given day

That sounds like, you can also do it in other countries

that's probably for later, after they've sorted out the regulatory issues.

[randy8777]

great news. now we have even microsoft on board. what is next google?

[The Bad Guy]

Very good news , I just hope we will see more big companies integrating bitcoin but I guess that Apple won't do it since they have their "ApplePay" crap.

[BiTJack]

That's a great new, we can buy MS credit with bitcoin now awesome.

[dserrano5]

that's probably for later, after they've sorted out the regulatory issues.

Which could mean this is not a probe to test the waters, then decide to cancel or expand. They're already thinking on going overseas.

[ujka]

that's probably for later, after they've sorted out the regulatory issues.

Which could mean this is not a probe to test the waters, then decide to cancel or expand. They're already thinking on going overseas.

They are thinking 'four steps ahead', said BitPay chief commercial officer Sonny Singh to CoinDesk:

"Microsoft has a long-term vision for bitcoin, BitPay and the blockchain. Starting with digital goods in the US is the logical first step, however, they want to expand to Europe and globally and add support for other products as part of that rollout."

http://www.coindesk.com/bitpay-microsoft-aggressive-global-vision-bitcoin/

[P4man]

Didnt see that coming.  Had anyone predicted a few years ago we'd have Dell, Microsoft and newegg onboard by 2014, Id have laughed it off. And Im a long term bull, go figure.

[XCoinCall]

Someone on Reddit pointed this out. This is Microsoft's response to Apple Pay basically.

[LiteCoinGuy]

BitPay: Microsoft Has Aggressive Global Vision for Bitcoin

http://www.coindesk.com/bitpay-microsoft-aggressive-global-vision-bitcoin/


this is even better.... or is this a dream   ?

[jonald_fyookball]

Freaking.  Awesome.

Who would've thunk it, Microsoft leading the way.  Google and Apple are sure to have noticed.

Apple is kinda stuck, because they invested all that tech into Apple Pay.  Their still all about their "ecosystem".

Google though, can easily incorporate Bitcoin into their Google Wallet.

Balls in their court, Microsoft just drained a 3 pointer.

google can easily incorporate bitcoin into google wallet but apple can't integrate into applepay can't? how so?

[mlferro]

this is very positive. I enjoyed seeing this news and hope with optimism that this will enable higher valuations (both financial, as social) for Bitcoin

[xdrpx]

I guess this only works for the US right now, but hopefully they'll broaden the ability to pay using Bitcoins to other places as well soon

[mlferro]

I guess this only works for the US right now, but hopefully they'll broaden the ability to pay using Bitcoins to other places as well soon

I also think this!

for those who do not live in USA, like me, geito is to have a little patience. But do not think it will take to globalize

[cr1776]

Freaking.  Awesome.

Who would've thunk it, Microsoft leading the way.  Google and Apple are sure to have noticed.

Apple is kinda stuck, because they invested all that tech into Apple Pay.  Their still all about their "ecosystem".

Google though, can easily incorporate Bitcoin into their Google Wallet.

Balls in their court, Microsoft just drained a 3 pointer.

google can easily incorporate bitcoin into google wallet but apple can't integrate into applepay can't? how so?

This. Apple Pay can use any credit card or any other backend such as Bitcoin. It is not a technical issue. It is a question of whether they want to or not.

If Apple sees a benefit, they'll do so if they can make it easy to use.  likely? I didn't think Microsoft was likely, so who knows.

[jsgayo]

This is a major breakthrough in Bitcoin. Hoping to enter the mainstream market.

[ChuckBuck]

Freaking.  Awesome.

Who would've thunk it, Microsoft leading the way.  Google and Apple are sure to have noticed.

Apple is kinda stuck, because they invested all that tech into Apple Pay.  Their still all about their "ecosystem".

Google though, can easily incorporate Bitcoin into their Google Wallet.

Balls in their court, Microsoft just drained a 3 pointer.

google can easily incorporate bitcoin into google wallet but apple can't integrate into applepay can't? how so?

This. Apple Pay can use any credit card or any other backend such as Bitcoin. It is not a technical issue. It is a question of whether they want to or not.

If Apple sees a benefit, they'll do so if they can make it easy to use.  likely? I didn't think Microsoft was likely, so who knows.

If Bitcoin takes off for the masses, of course Apple will incorporate it.  Like NFC, which is one of the main selling points of Apple Pay, NFC has been in Android Phones for a few years already, Apple just put it into their Apple iPhone 6's because that's where tech has been going.

I say "not now", because Apple has big partnerships with all these players:



Notice all these big boys are kinda the opposite direction of what Bitcoin is.  Big banks and credit card companies.  Until Bitcoin gets really really disruptive, then Apple will have to wait on the sidelines for now, due to these "partners".

I hope I'm wrong...

[goosoodude]

This is indeed great news. Microsoft and Overstock as Bitcoin accepting merchants provide a big dgree of legitimacy.

[Daniel91]

This is indeed great news. Microsoft and Overstock as Bitcoin accepting merchants provide a big dgree of legitimacy.

Yes, very good point.
I think that average people will have much more confidence to use bitcoin if they see that such ''big'' and reputable company, like Microsoft, accepting bitcoin.
I hope that this is now final ''breakthrough'' and that many more ''big'' companies will follow Microsoft lead and also accept bitcoin.
This will help us to become mainstream, value of bitcoin will raise again...