Microsoft Plans Expand Support for Crypto Wallets Across Next Generation of Hardware Products, Documents Suggest

The next generation of Microsoft hardware products might include better support for crypto wallets, a report by Axios suggested on Monday.

According to Axios, detailed documents detailing Microsoft’s plans were just released as part of Microsoft’s ongoing lawsuit with the US Federal Trade Commission, who are attempting to block the tech giant’s $69 billion bid for Activision Blizzard.

As per the documents, Microsoft is planning to release a suite of new products including consoles, phones, web browsers, PCs and a new “cloud system”.

Importantly for the crypto industry, the devices are set to feature more advanced support for crypto wallets.

Crypto wallets are called as such because, in the world of web3, they function in a similar way to how a physical wallet functions. 

However, a crypto wallet doesn’t itself hold any cryptocurrency – rather, it holds the privileged credentials (called private keys) needed to access a crypto address on the blockchain of a given cryptocurrency.

Axios warned in its report that Microsoft’s plans could well have changed since the release of these documents, and the company is yet to respond to media requests for comment.

But still, the fact that one of the world’s most influential tech companies is looking to embrace crypto in a bigger way across its suite of devices is potentially a major positive catalyst for crypto in general.

By making web3 services more accessible/easy to use for non-crypto natives is going to be key if crypto is going to achieve the sort of widespread adoption that its proponents are hoping for.

Microsoft Making Bigger In Roads Into Crypto World

The news that Microsoft might expand support for web3 services like wallets across its next generation of hardware devices isn’t the only move the company has been making in the crypto space this year.

The tech behemoth announced a partnership with layer-1 blockchain protocol Aptos, which was built by ex-Facebook employees behind the social media platform’s failed Libra/Deim blockchain project, earlier this summer.

The partnership was motivated by Microsoft’s desire to develop new artificial intelligence (AI) blockchain products.

Aptos and Microsoft also agreed to explore the creation of blockchain-based financial products that could expand the use case of blockchains, including in the realm of asset tokenization and central bank digital currencies.

Elsewhere, in another summer announcement, Microsoft announced it had joined forces with LeverFi to launch an AI-backed solution that aims to tackle the challenges facing the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.