Mobile-bitcoin wallet Copay now available on Windows Phone 8.1

The Copay app for Windows Phone helps you and your family or business team more securely manage your bitcoins, which you can use to purchase Microsoft content.

Earlier this month, we announced that you can purchase Windows Phone apps for your Lumia, Xbox games, movies and other Microsoft content using bitcoins, a global, digital currency.

Now you can use Copay, a free bitcoin-wallet app for Windows Phone, to better manage your bitcoins via multi-signature technology.

This open-source, beta app works in tandem with Bitpay, the world’s leading bitcoin-payment processor, and you may find it helpful if you co-manage a shared pool of bitcoins with other people like family members or business colleagues.

How it works: The technology behind Copay lets multiple people access a bitcoin wallet. Because of that, a transaction based on the parameters you choose may require more than one signature.

“Instead of securing bitcoin funds with only one private key, multi-signature technology allows bitcoin wallets to be controlled by multiple private keys or users,” according to a blog post by Bitpay.

“Authorization of each transaction can require one, some, or all of these private keys. This feature … solves problems of security and accountability in shared finances.”

Since the Copay app is still in beta, Bitpay recommends that you do not use it for large transactions or for storing a high number of bitcoins. But whether it’s managing your family’s vacation fund or your business-team’s marketing budget, take the Copay app for a spin if you use bitcoins.

By the way, bitcoins have a high-dollar value. At the time of this writing, it would take $207 USD to equal one bitcoin. Not too shabby!