Bitcoin may be a highly controversial virtual currency, but it seems like Google and Yahoo are taking steps to acknowledge it as a legit currency — by adding Bitcoin prices to their finance networks.This comes after Microsoft added Bitcoin currency conversion to Bing in February, with the data provided by digital wallet company Coinbase.Google had earlier said it had no plans regarding the incorporation of Bitcoin into its Wallet payment system, but this latest step is a tentative move towards acknowledging it.Bitcoin has been battered by various scandals this year — think Mt.Gox’s downfall — and government crackdowns, the most recent one being China, where two national banks and Tenpay banned cryptocurrencies.However, there’s still hope for the virtual currency as big internet firms are continuing to recognize and accept such a payment method, with Expedia being the latest one.Apple has also recently said it will allow Bitcoin and other virtual currency apps if they comply with local laws.

Thumbnail image via George Frey/Getty Images Read next: Amazon Cloud Player for iOS adds Prime Music streaming, is renamed to Amazon MusicUPDATE (11th June 02:30 BST): This article has been updated with Yahoo's comment.Access to bitcoin price data in the world of mainstream finance has taken another big step in the last 24 hours.Following Bloomberg's recent addition of bitcoin to its trading terminals in late April, and its inclusion on computational knowledge engine WolframAlpha, Yahoo!Finance has followed suit and now displays the BTC/USD price along with its many other listed fiat currencies.A Yahoo spokesperson told CoinDesk that move was driven by the site's users, many of whom had requested the addition of the feature: "We’ve added bitcoin to Yahoo Finance because it’s something our users are interested in – adoption of bitcoin is becoming more commonplace, and we feel it is relevant to our industry and to our users."Along with the latest price, Yahoo!also lists opening/closing prices and ranges, plus an index of bitcoin-related news items.

The addition of bitcoin to the site is significant as it will make up-to-date price data available to a potentially new and sizeable audience.According to data for May 2012, Yahoo!Finance was the top financial news and research website in the US with more than 37.5 million unique visitors per month.bitcoin sean spicerReaction from the community has been positive, with reddit commenters hailing the move as another step in bitcoin's march to global acceptance.ethereum ico 2014"This is literally the best news I've had all day, and the day is still young!"litecoin pool 0"Another nice stamp of approval," said another.litecoin trendOther commenters have wondered what source Yahoo!bitcoin fog not working

Finance is using for its data, with popular exchange Bitstamp mentioned as a possibility.Indeed the prices seem to match quite closely, both sitting slightly below the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, but this fact remains to be confirmed.buy litecoin asicA further factor noted by redditors is that, since Apple relies on Yahoo!Finance data, it's 'Stocks' apps for both iOS and OS X can also be set to display the bitcoin price, though historical data is not extensive and an error arises with requests older than one week.The presence of bitcoin on one of the most mainstream finance pages on the web is surely a milestone for the currency.Perhaps only bitcoin's inclusion on Google could be more impactful.So far, however, that is something the search giant remains reluctant to do. The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies.

If you had any doubt before that bitcoin is a legitimate virtual currency, you may change your mind after this.We have confirmed that both Google and Yahoo have listed bitcoin prices in their financial indexes.Google and Yahoo are not the first big time companies to have taken notice of the rapid rise of bitcoin but they are the first major news and reporting sites to list bitcoin on their price index.Bloomberg started reporting bitcoin prices a couple of months ago but the online newspaper is not nearly as big as Google and Yahoo.The news broke out after Google added bitcoin to their price index and Yahoo followed suit!Yahoo bitcoin price index listed the following info: * Open, bid, ask and previous closing prices * Day  & 52-week price ranges * 5-year interactive and basic charts * Latest bitcoin headlines and news from around the internet None of the companies put out a press release of reported the news on their websites.The news broke out after a newspaper reportedly found “CURRENCY:BTC” on Google’s Finance algorithm and wrote a news article about it a day later.

The news quickly spread!On Google Finance page, a users can find bitcoin prices, a list of bitcoin news headlines and related quotes.Bitcoin Prices can also be foind on Google Finance for mobile users.Google, however, has not added bitcoin to it’s search engine queries and has giving no indications when they will be doing so or whether they will do it at all.Regardless of the limitation, the bitcoin community is still please to see a bit company like Google is paying attention and giving attention to bitcoin.“Any ability to gain more information or expose information to a broader base increases it’s value.Lots of people use Yahoo Finance and now can follow the price of bitcoin in their feeds.That definitely adds value for people.Now, how that influences price, that’s another question,” a Reddit user wrote on the popular social media site.Bitcon has surpased other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, dogecoin as the biggest and most popular virtual currency early this year when the federal government raided the biggest online illegal drug marketplace SilkRoad and found out they were only taking bitcoins as payment.