Microsoft has a lot of branches around the world and therefore nothing prevents them to accept bitcoins. They are doing it. The US government can dictate terms only in America. However, I don't think Bill Gates invests in crypto. For him it is just extra money. In the crypto currency investing currency speculators. This is their issue.
I'm not so sure about that, Microsoft is a company created in America and the US laws can be very broad in its application, even if a subsidiary in another country did something, microsoft will still be liable in the US too, that is why US companies are very cautious to try to not provoke the ire of uncle Sam.I certainly support and agree with this view
The US is more like a global gendarme nowadays, or a global bully, if you please. In fact, it is not only about companies registered and operating in the US with their subsidiaries in some other country doing something which the American authorities might not quite like that will suffer severe consequences home, in the US. It is not even about some foreign companies having subsidiaries or branches in the US. It is just about any company in the world even if it has nothing to do with the US in general and the US government in particular at all. The Swiss banks had been forced to disclose personal info of the American citizens which kept their money in these Swiss banks in Switzerland itself
