Microsoft added bitcoin as an online payment option in Xbox and Windows stores. US customers can now purchase games, apps and other goodies, with digital currency added to their personal Microsoft accounts.
Without making a formal announcement, Microsoft added detailed instructions on its customer support webpage about how to use the digital currency.
However, the virtual cash cannot be accepted as a direct payment method.
You can only use bitcoin to add money to your Microsoft account and then purchase digital goods at select Microsoft online stores. You can’t use bitcoin to purchase Microsoft products and services directly at this time, says the corporation’s webpage, warning that transactions are irreversible.
The maximum daily top up of a personal account is limited to $1,000, with a $5,000 maximum limit for an account registered by an individual.
The decision to accept cryptocurrency is a result of partnership between the world’s leading computing corporation and Georgia-based bitcoin processor BitPay.
The fact that a company with a market capitalization of $380 billion has taken to accepting bitcoin means a lot for the digital currency.
With Dell and Newegg taking a lead earlier this year, Microsoft has now become the largest tech company to embrace bitcoin.
The use of digital currencies such as bitcoin, while not yet mainstream, is growing. 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, said Eric Lockard, corporate vice president of the Universal Store at Microsoft, as quoted by CoinDesk.
In 2014, Microsoft expects its annual revenue to exceed $86.8 billion.