Microsoft Silently Withdraws Support for Bitcoin Payments From the Win10 and Win Mobile Stores

One of the problems with new ideas is that while logically sound, they sometimes outpace the human animal’s ability to adapt or integrate the idea into its day-to-day existence. Another issue with new ideas is that seem good, but require some level of refinement before they are ready for wider acceptance. In either case, when it happens, there is a period of reassessment.

Microsoft’s 15-month long love affair with Bitcoin may be coming to an end, with the tech giant quietly removing the option to pay for items using the cryptocurrency in the Windows 10 and Windows Mobile stores at some point in the last week.

Mercator Advisory Group recognizes the value blockchain technology allowing distributed ledgers to secure trust of their participants and further democratize transactional booking. Fintech firms and established financial institutions are investing in finding applications for blockchain, as well as how it might be decoupled from cryptocurrency generation to underwrite the computing power needed. However, the statements of Mike Hearn earlier this year ( http://goo.gl/DeJDGQ ) called attention to some of the perceived flaws in the current Bitcoin scheme, encouraging Microsoft pull back on its facilitation of the cryptocurrency

It may also have been that not enough people were using Bitcoin as a payment option.

Overview by Joseph Walent, Senior Analyst, Emerging Technology Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group

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