In late 2014, Microsoft undertook an experiment to accept payments on its Windows app store via Bitcoin. A little under 18 months later, however, and that policy has now changed, as the company posted a short and concise message on its website's FAQ that it will no longer support the digital currency.

"You can no longer redeem Bitcoin into your Microsoft account. Existing balances in your account will still be available for purchases from Microsoft Store, but can't be refunded," notes Microsoft. It further states that this change applies to both Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile versions of apps. This means that users who currently have an existing Bitcoin balance in their Windows account, can still use it make payments. From here on, however, no new deposits of Bitcoin can be made into said account.

The move has surprised some, including Softpedia, reporting that there was much fanfare when the move to support the digital currency was initially made in late 2014. While there has been no official comment from Microsoft on the change, Engadget believes that Bitcoin is still a very niche payment system, particularly for something like app purchases. As such, it could simply be a case of a less than initially anticipated use of Bitcoin from Microsoft's side.