The report is remarable in the sense that China had been proactive in crushing all cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin in the form of a blanket ban on cryptocurrency exchange, trading, initial coin offerings and even mining.
The first official prohibition was announced back in September 2017.
In a predominantly positive and elaborate coverage of Bitcoin that speaks about the background of its creation and evolution, Xinhua has raised doubts about the worthiness of the crypto by asking whether it is an “inevitable trend of future currency development or just another ‘tulip’ hype?”
The report also highlights the fundamental principles of blockchain such as decentralization, trustless mechanism and immutability characteristics.
Furthermore, the document also explains how the salient features of blockchain are used for the P2P exchange of value. Other topics discussed in the article are mining, false concealment and shortage.
The document also points to the negative aspects and common skeptic arguments made against the numero uno cryptocurrency. The report argues that “the most important uses of Bitcoin payments are black market transactions and ‘dark net’ transactions.”
The media outlet also highlights Bitcoin’s volatility while underlining the fact that it is not backed by any central bank or sovereign country, a feature that makes it distinct from fiat currencies.
Interestingly, the article does not demonize Bitcoin, persuading readers to state that the news report to be the first of its kind to give a positive coverage to Bitcoin by Beijing.
Chinese President Xi’s noteworthy approval of blockchain technology in recent weeks was backed by the inking of the first country-wide law governing cryptography and monitoring several features of blockchain, due to become effective in January 2020.
The People’s Bank of China is also on course to become the world’s first major global economy to unveil a central bank digital currency while other countries such as Tunisia are also involved in the race.
Even though the state media continues to exercise caution while talking about cryptocurrency trading, China nonetheless appears to be softening its stance on pursuits such as Bitcoin mining.