Microsoft climbs on the Bitcoin bandwagon

Vendor accepting crypto-currency on some digital content but support limited to US for now

Microsoft has given crypto-currency Bitcoin the thumbs up by accepting it for the payment of certain digital content.

Bitcoin site Coindesk noticed today that a new tab detailing how to pay with Bitcoin had recently appeared on Microsoft's payment information.

The page says: "You can now use Bitcoin to add money to your Microsoft account. Once you add money to your Microsoft account, you can use it as a payment option to buy apps, games, and other digital content from Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox Games, Xbox Music, or Xbox Video stores."

The vendor stressed that users can only use the crypto-currency to add credit to their Microsoft accounts and cannot use it to directly purchase its products or services "at this time".

Support for Bitcoin use is "currently limited" to the US, Microsoft said.

E-tailers and channel firms have got in on the Bitcoin action recently after Dell got the ball rolling by accepting it in some SMB and consumer units. On Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, global sales across the Bitcoin network reached $296m (£188.83m).