China’s state-owned media outlet Xinhuanet has released a report recognizing Bitcoin (BTC) as “the first successful application of blockchain technology.”
The report provides an extensive overview of how Bitcoin was developed. It also goes over the pseudonymous cryptocurrency’s current state of development and adoption.
The article begins by asking whether Bitcoin will lead to an “inevitable trend of future currency development or if it will just be another ‘tulip’ hype?”
The write-up goes on to talk about the main idea behind decentralized technologies such as the blockchain. It notes that blockchains are immutable and provide a trustless system for peer-to-peer value transfer. The article also covers cryptocurrency mining and the concept of digital scarcity.
It claims that “the most important uses of Bitcoin payments are black market transactions and ‘dark net’ transactions.” Xinhua also mentions that Bitcoin is highly volatile and that it is not backed or supported by a centralized entity, which makes it quite different from state-backed fiat money.
While China’s government placed a blanket ban on initial coin offerings and crypto trading in late 2017, President Xi Jinping recently announced his full support of blockchain technology and has rolled out mobile app educational courses on Bitcoin, Ethereum and blockchain as the country gears up to release its government-backed digital currency.