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You Can Now Buy Xbox Games With Bitcoin

Utah Software Engineer Mints Physical Bitcoins
George Frey—Getty Images A pile of Bitcoins are shown here after Software engineer Mike Caldwell minted them in his shop on April 26, 2013 in Sandy, Utah.

One small step for Microsoft, one giant leap for Bitcoin

Microsoft quietly updated its payment options to include Bitcoin, making it one of the largest companies yet to accept the digital currency.

“You can now use Bitcoin to add money to your Microsoft account,” Microsoft wrote in an update to its payment policy. Bitcoins can then be used to purchase digital content like Windows Phone apps and Xbox games and music.

Only a handful of businesses currently accept Bitcoins as payment option, most notably PayPal and a smattering of oddball brick and mortar stores. Microsoft is the first major tech company, ahead of Apple and Google, to accept the digital currency.

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