Tech giant Microsoft on 10th Jan resumed accepting bitcoin as a payment option after temporarily halting it last week due to the instability of BTC and high transaction fees. Microsoft has allowed users to pay for goods and services using the Bitcoin since 2014 and over the years the tech giant stopped temporarily in 2015 and in 2016.
The last week halt was first reported by bleeping computers claiming that the BTC was “unstable currency”. Later on, a Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed the suspension and said the service was restored.
Last year, Steam made a similar decision as the main reason remains the volatility and high transaction fees of the Bitcoin. The fees have further commented that the fees have risen from some few cents to $20 plus at the moment, making it unfavorable for micro-transactions.
Microsoft and Valve are not the only corporations to indirectly or directly halt bitcoin transactions. VISA, is also part of the halt wave as they ended their agreement with WaveCrest, a prepaid card issuer resulting to thousands of bitcoin debit cards issued by Bitwala, BitPay, Cryptopay, among the rest to be shut down.
The ban news comes as BTC as had a tough week as it tries to keep up with the major regulations in South Korea, Malaysia, and The North American Bitcoin Conference event to be held in Miami and frequent price swings. In the past weeks, the BTC has managed a new high of $17,100 and dipped to a low of around $11500.
Large corporations such as Microsoft, Steam, and VISA can be seen trying to minimize their risk exposure associated with the Bitcoin volatility and price swings. This comes at a period when more and more executives are starting to accept the bitcoin and the overall blockchain technology. Last year, JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon referred the bitcoin as a fraud and has retraced the statement. He recently said he regrets the statement and said that the blockchain technology is something real.
Other cryptocurrencies such as ETH and BCH and XRP has pushed for lower fees on their networks as the market dominance of Bitcoin dip from a high of 86% a year ago to 36% currently. As the South Korean ban incident passes the bitcoin seem to gain more traction as more tech companies start to adopt it or the Blockchain technology.
