Microsoft Considering Adding Bitcoin Payment Option For Xbox Users

Microsoft wants to know if their gamers would be willing to pay Bitcoin at the Xbox online store. This was deduced from the latest poll put out by the tech giant. 

Bitcoin As A Payment Option

According to a Reddit post, the company put out a survey asking Xbox users about their preferred payment options at its online store. The survey read, “Which of these other payment methods would you like to use on Xbox?” It then gave several payment options for customers to choose from, including Bitcoin.

According to an Xbox user who confirmed this, the survey is only available for users that participate in the Xbox Insider program for beta testing OS updates.

The Xbox Insider Program allows gamers to direct the development path of new features and get a sneak peek at the new content on the horizon. It allows them to install pre-released versions of games and software.

Microsoft’s Relationship with Bitcoin

Microsoft and Bitcoin have had an on and off relationship for years now. The software giant started accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment for its services in 2014. It later suspended the option in 2018 before re-enabling it again.

Right now, the crypto payment option for Microsoft services is only available for United States-based users. They can easily fund their Microsoft accounts using Bitcoin. The users can use Bitcoin to buy Windows content on its MS Store, but not the Xbox online store.

Microsoft’s move to integrate Bitcoin as payments into its Xbox online store could gain widespread support from the gaming world. This is because gamers are known to be high cryptocurrency users.

Away from Bitcoin, Microsoft has also been busy racking up patents. The software company filed a patent with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for a crypto mining system that leverages energy emitted from daily activities. This move comes amid the cries of the environmental hazards that crypto mining creates and the costs thereof.

The patent is dubbed “Crypto Money System Using Body Activity Data,” which seeks to convert energy from daily activities and solve computational problems such as crypto mining. The energy would be collected through sensors attached to the individual’s body, thereby allowing a person to mint new crypto hassle-free.

Instead of massive computation work required by some conventional cryptocurrency systems, data generated based on the body activity of the user can be a proof-of-work, and therefore, a user can solve the computationally difficult problem unconsciously,” per the patent application.