Microsoft officially announced that Excel 2017 will widely support Bitcoin, clearly considering Bitcoin as a currency

Microsoft has officially announced plans to provide extensive support for Bitcoin in the upcoming release of Excel 2017, which will allow users to calculate, typeset and analyze Bitcoin on the platform.

Martin Butler, Microsoft account manager, said:

“Excel 2017 will be able to recognize, format, calculate and analyze numbers used in the Bitcoin currency. This functionality will be available in Excel 2017 for Windows 10, Android, Mac OS and iOS 10, as well as the mobile version of Excel for Windows Phone.

Alistair Milne, an Atlanta digital currency fund investor and Bitcoin expert, was the first to share the news of Microsoft's integration of Bitcoin on social media. The Bitcoin community responded very positively and expressed great enthusiasm for Microsoft's efforts to promote the mainstream use of Bitcoin.

Microsoft describes Bitcoin as a currency in official document

Although Bitcoin's monetary attributes are self-evident to Bitcoin users and enthusiasts, large companies, government agencies and financial institutions have been avoiding using the term "currency" to describe Bitcoin in the past few years.

Most mainstream investors and users typically refer to Bitcoin as an asset, although Bitcoin is used as a global digital currency in various regions around the world.

However, throughout 2016, as global economic instability and financial crises intensified, mainstream media and investor opinion changed significantly. In some regions, such as India, China, and Venezuela, the abolition of certain banknotes, cash shortages, rapid currency devaluations, and strict regulation of capital outflows left users with few options other than Bitcoin as a store of value.

By the end of last year, investors and traders had come to see Bitcoin as the world’s currency and the only safe haven asset capable of withstanding financial crises and economic instability. Bitcoin also performed better than any other currency or asset in 2016, leading to a surge in demand for Bitcoin.

Given what has happened over the past year and the role Bitcoin plays in protecting home and business assets, Microsoft has included Bitcoin as a currency in its Office productivity suite, which is used by millions of people every day.

Microsoft enters cryptocurrency space

Microsoft's development team is also actively developing and deploying various blockchain-based platforms. Most notably, Microsoft has launched the Azure Blockchain as a Service platform, where large companies can use blockchain to promote financial data settlement.

Microsoft is also supporting ETC and other Bitcoin and blockchain companies at meetings, showing great enthusiasm for the development of the cryptocurrency industry.