Even though Bitcoin might be outside of the public eye its popularity and applications have been steadily growing for many years now. So to see Valve potentially getting behind it is not a surprising occurrence.

This rumor comes from a Reddit user named Haoose who found out that Steam's Translation Server contains many strings of text related to Bitcoin purchases. Here's a few particularly interesting ones:

bitcoin_authorization_explanation

Bitcoin transactions are authorized through the BitPay website. Click the button below to open a new web browser to initiate the transaction.

checkout_receipt_pending_bitcoin_long

Your purchase is currently in progress and is waiting for confirmation of Bitcoin delivery from BitPay. This process can take several minutes to a few days for confirmation. Valve will send an email receipt to you when payment is received for this purchase. During this time you may continue shopping for other games, though you will not be able to re-purchase any products that are pending in this transaction.

checkout_receipt_pending_bitcoin_text

For questions regarding your payment processing status, please contact BitPay.

The reason I highlighted the strings above is because it seems that rather than implement their own solution Valve is going with the very popular and I assume reliable third party option that is BitPay. BitPay is an intermediary that allows you, for a small fee, to easily convert between Bitcoins and USD with the option to pay your fee with a portion of the Bitcoins you receive. In other words, it is a rather risk free solution and one that might be quite appealing to Valve.

I doubt the introduction of Bitcoins to Steam will result in a massive increase in Valve's profits but it will however heavily improve the legitimacy of Bitcoins and potentially even lead to many other big gaming outlets accepting it as a currency in order to not be left behind by Valve.

Despite being very likely all of this is currently deeply rooted within rumor territory so do take the words written here with a few grains of salt. But if true its going to be a very positive and gigantic step towards a secure future for Bitcoin as an actual currency with widespread use.

Once more information comes up I'll make sure to update you but for now all we can do is sit and wait for Valve to make their move.