This is really unexpected news. Are Microsoft interested in the crypto industry?
Not really. They are interested in blockchains, not in the coins.
They even have their own "Azure Blockchain" service (I only know it exist, not much else). So the surprising part is that they use Bitcoin's blockchain instead of one developed by themselves

Actually, this might not be the case as I've learned just recently. I've made
a thread about a Microsoft patent for crypto mining using human body activity data (you can read about this thing
here as a part of debunking a myth). I know it's just a patent, but still.
I don't quite understand why they're even mentioning Bitcoin if what they use is, if I understood correctly, just Blockchain but not for currency purposes. There've been minor projects offering something like this, and now one of them is becoming big because of collaboration with Microsoft. I must say I feel concerned about this idea of strong digital identity because it can be exploited by companies exactly like Microsoft to push adds and more.