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Talks about Steam supporting Bitcoin originated in early 2014, whereas it officially started accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment in April 2016, amid much speculation.
As of yesterday, however, Steam has stopped accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment.
In a blog post, a Valve Corporation spokesman cited high transaction fees and constant variations in Bitcoin’s value as the root cause of this step.
It has been quoted that users incurred transaction fees going up to $20 once they initiated the transaction, which is remarkably higher than what the charges were when Steam added Bitcoin support initially.
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Further adding to his statement, the spokesman clarified that Valve Corporation has no control over how much customers are charged for each transaction. Obviously, high charges mean increased expenses for consumers, which is a huge deterrent when it comes to the sale of digital games.
Another alarming thing is that customers would have to initiate two transactions to complete the purchase of one game. In the first step, the Bitcoin equivalent of a game’s value is to be transferred, which is to be followed with another transaction covering the transaction fee.
Coming to the second issue, the constant ups and downs in Bitcoin value means that if a transaction isn’t fulfilled within a specific window, the change in Bitcoin value might void the past transaction as the amount required might vary than what it was originally.
The spokesman said that such situations lead to Volve Corporation either refunding the original amount to the user or alternatively asking the user to transfer the balance amount. In either case, the user would be hit with the transaction fee.
The spokesman also added that Steam might reconsider adding Bitcoin support in the future, depending on the scenario at that moment.
