Microsoft removes bitcoin support for Windows 10 Store

Front lobby entrance of building 17, one of the largest buildings on the Main Campus portion of Microsoft’s Redmond campus. The circle in the lower-left is where cars drive up. Taken by Derrick Coetzee in April 2005, who releases all rights to the work and releases it into the public domain.

Microsoft has quietly dropped support for bitcoin in its Windows 10 Store, reported Softpedia.

According to a Windows Store FAQ update, as cited by Softpedia, bitcoin is no longer accepted when purchasing content from Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile stores.

“Microsoft Store doesn’t accept Bitcoin. You can no longer redeem Bitcoin into your Microsoft account. Existing balances in your account will still be available for purchases from Microsoft Store, but can’t be refunded,” says the update. Softpedia pointed out that the FAQ page where Microsoft outlines how to “add money to your Microsoft account with Bitcoin” is still live.

As GeekWire reported, it was just 15 months ago when Microsoft announced it would accept bitcoin for purchases of apps, games and videos from its online stores.

At the time, Eric Lockard, corporate vice president at Universal Store at Microsoft, wrote in a corporate blog post: “For us, this is about giving people options and helping them do more on their devices and in the cloud. 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.”

In their respective articles, Softpedia and GeekWire said Microsoft had yet to give an official statement regarding its decision to drop bitcoin. However, a Microsoft customer service representative told CoinDesk that users can still submit bitcoins to top funds to their Microsoft account, and from that point can use those funds to buy items.

The representative said their support office has not received official word about the move, suggesting a formal statement could be issued soon, as well as clarification on the exact policy with respect to bitcoin payments.