In an announcement sent today to publishers on Valve Corporation’s Steam video game delivery platform the company again confirmed that it will soon be accepting Bitcoin. This isn’t the first time that expectations have risen about Steam beginning to accept bitcoins for videogames, but it is the first time official messaging follows.

One publisher went to Reddit with a copy of the text of the announcement e-mailed to them outlining Steam’s intention to begin accepting Bitcoin:

Bitcoin support coming soon!

We are excited to announce that Steam is going to start accepting payments via bitcoin.

We’re using an external payment provider to process bitcoin payments to help partners reach more customers on Steam. Bitcoin is becoming an increasingly popular online payment method in some countries, and we’re enabling a system that insulates partners from risk and volatility while still providing value to the end customer.

You do not need to take any action. If customers choose to pay via bitcoin, they’ll still be charged the price already set in the local currency.

The previous leak suggested that Valve would go with Bitcoin payment processor BitPay, Inc. to add the payment option to the long list of existing options on Steam. Already users of Steam can purchase video games with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and PayPal.

Bitcoin payments are coming soon to Steam, they will use the local currency prices and convert during checkout. pic.twitter.com/zSZ3ueVIEU

— Steam Database (@SteamDB) April 21, 2016

What makes this integration so interesting is that Steam represents a fully electronic marketplace and Bitcoin is a fully electronic currency. Not only will users be able to purchase and download video games and DLC using Bitcoin, but publishers using the Steam platform will be able to sell virtual items inside of games for bitcoins.

Some Steam games have such popular virtual item trading that external marketplaces have grown in order to facilitate them. For example, the website OPSkins, a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) marketplace, partnered with BitPay in early 2016 to allow trading skins in the game for bitcoins. Website Dispsenser.tf exists to allow trades of virtual items within Valve’s Team Fortress 2. The list continues to grow.

Of course, it is also possible to use Steam’s own marketplace to buy, sell and trade these virtual items. Steam also has a collectable trading card system as well within its platform that allows users to put money into a wallet and exchange cards (earned by playing games on Steam) for monetary credit.

Millions of gamers already participate in this digital economy using the payment options listed above (Steam boasts over 11 million concurrent users in the past 48 hours) and Bitcoin itself has its own ecosystem and community (many of whom are gamers themselves).

Featured image credit: Valve Corporation, Steam logo