Microsoft, a technology giant headquartered in Washington, officially announced its plans to add extensive support for Bitcoin in the upcoming release of Excel 2017, which would allow users to calculate, format and analyze Bitcoin on the platform.
Martin Butler, account executive at Microsoft, stated:
“In 2017, Excel will be able to recognize, format, calculate and analyze numbers expressed in Bitcoin currency. The new feature will be available for Excel running under Windows 10, Android, Mac OS and iOS, and will include Excel Mobile versions as well.”
Atlanta Digital Currency Fund investor and Bitcoin expert Alistair Milne first shared Microsoft’s Bitcoin integration on social media. The Bitcoin community reacted positively and expressed their enthusiasm towards the company’s efforts in leading the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin.
Microsoft describes Bitcoin as currency on its official release paper
While self-evident to Bitcoin users and enthusiasts, large-scale corporations, government agencies and financial institutions have avoided the term “currency” in describing Bitcoin over the past few years.
As such, most mainstream investors and users referred to Bitcoin as an asset, in spite of the usage of Bitcoin in various regions across the world as the global digital currency.
However, throughout 2016, the viewpoint of mainstream media outlets and investors altered greatly, as global economic instability and financial troubles worsened. In some regions such as India, China and Venezuela, users had virtually no other options but to utilize Bitcoin as a store of value due to the demonetization of certain banknotes, shortage of cash, rapid devaluation of currency and the tight imposition of capital outflows.
By the end of last year, investors and traders were considering it as the global currency and the only safe haven asset that has the capacity and ability to prevent financial troubles and economic instability. It also outperformed every single currency and asset in 2016, which led to an increasing demand for Bitcoin.
In consideration of past events and Bitcoin’s crucial role in protecting the wealth of most households and businesses in the past 12 months, Microsoft coined Bitcoin as a currency for millions of users utilizing Microsoft Office on a daily basis.
Microsoft’s involvement in the cryptocurrency industry
The Microsoft development team was also heavily involved in the development and deployment of various Blockchain-based platforms. Most notably, Microsoft launched Azure Blockchain as a service platform, in which large-scale businesses can use Blockchain to facilitate the settlement of financial data.
The company also supported meetups of Ethereum Classic and other Bitcoin and Blockchain companies, demonstrating their enthusiasm towards the development of the cryptocurrency industry.