Today Steam officially no longer accepts payments via Bitcoin, arguing that the decision to remove the option arose as a result of the extremely high transaction fees that Bitcoin incurs, and the extremely high level of instability it currently has.
“In recent months, we have seen an increase in the volatility of Bitcoin’s value and a significant increase in the fees for processing transactions on the Bitcoin network,” Valve said in a post on Steam. “For example, transaction fees charged to customers by the Bitcoin network have skyrocketed this year, peaking at close to IDR 270k transactions last week (compared to roughly IDR 2,710 when we activated Bitcoin). Unfortunately, Valve has no control over the amount of the fee. These fees result in unreasonable fees for buying games when paying with Bitcoin. High transaction fees cause an even bigger problem when the value of Bitcoin drops drastically. ”
Valve said that the level of volatility in bitcoin’s value “has become extreme in recent months, losing 25% in value over a period of several days.” Open source cryptocurrencies hit new highs this week, and I quote from Bitcoin.co.id at the time of this post the bitcoin price is at 230 million Rupiah. up 45 million in the last 24 hours. An increase of 32.3% in the last 24 hours.
Valve explained that such a spike could have an impact on purchases via Steam.
“When checking Steam, customers will transfer a small amount of Bitcoin for gaming fees, plus an amount of Bitcoin to cover transaction fees charged by the Bitcoin network,” the company said. “The value of Bitcoin is only guaranteed for a certain period of time so if the transaction is not completed within that time window, then the amount of Bitcoin needed to cover the transaction may change. The mutable amount has increased recently to the point where the difference can be significantly different. ”
Valve says that the price difference will usually result in a refund or additional payment from the customer when a more traditional, more stable currency is involved. But in the case of bitcoin, the high transaction fees can make the resolution expensive.
“At this point, it is untenable to support Bitcoin as a payment option,” Valve said. “We may re-evaluate whether Bitcoin makes sense for us and the Steam community at a later date.”
Valve added support for Steam purchases with bitcoin in 2022 as part of a partnership with the company Bitpay.
