[2019-11-12] Bitcoin Presented as ‘First Successful Application of Blockchain’

[bbc.reporter]

What is good for bitcoin is also good for the whole cryptospace. I am happy to see that bitcoin is recognized by Xihua press as a success.

However, the skeptical me is asking what is the government controlled news agency's agenda for reporting this? Why today? The Chinese authorities have always been against bitcoin.


Image from coinroro

Chinese state news agency Xinhua has published a front-page article on bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, presenting it as blockchain technology’s first successful application.

In its article, Xinhua details how bitcoin works and goes in-depth into how public and private keys differ, how new cryptocurrency enters the market, and even touches the halving event. Xinhua points out BTC has a pseudo-anonymous nature, but falsely claims it main use case are darknet market transactions.

Read in full https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2019/11/bitcoin-presented-as-first-successful-application-of-blockchain-to-1-4-billion-people/

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[hello_good_sir]

I gotta admit, when I skimmed this post and saw the word Xinhua, I was 99 percent certain that it was going to be an article shitting on the aspects of decentralization and Bitcoin. This is confusing...

I agree with you, not sure why this newspaper agency is praising bitcoin as a success, even though, it definitely is.

Could this be directed to them via the Chinese government? Maybe they want to do a 180 on their approach with bitcoin and involve it in the new economy they are building?

[TRONTON]

they begin to develop things that distract from their previous arguments, in marketing theory there are also things to change attitudes corrective through reverse educational propaganda. So they did try to form an anomaly to absorb assumptions from what they developed towards the blockchain industry, including exposing bitcoin objectively on an ongoing basis.

[adeandro]

Now, the successful application of blockchain technologies is spreading across different spheres of services and not only.

[LeGaulois]

they begin to develop things that distract from their previous arguments, in marketing theory there are also things to change attitudes corrective through reverse educational propaganda. So they did try to form an anomaly to absorb assumptions from what they developed towards the blockchain industry, including exposing bitcoin objectively on an ongoing basis.

Probably right, but the Chinese paper also doesn't talk about Bitcoin in a good way. It clearly says Bitcoin is used on the dark web for illegal activities.
I believe they're trying to justify themselves to use the blockchain technology and their chinacoin, while they were anti-crypto before.
It's like saying "cryptocurrencies are bad but if it's a government, it's a revolution"

[BitHodler]

I agree with you, not sure why this newspaper agency is praising bitcoin as a success, even though, it definitely is.

China has always been a very unstable factor in crypto and this is just another example of that. I liked it better to not read so much about China but it seems that we unfortunately are reversing the narrative again.

I hope that it will be positive for crypto in general but I'm not holding my breath as there is always a catch to watch out for. One thing we can however agree on is the block halving as it is an event that will happen with a 100% certainty.

Not many things in life are certain, but the block halving is a fundamental event that we can count on.

[stompix]

Probably right, but the Chinese paper also doesn't talk about Bitcoin in a good way. It clearly says Bitcoin is used on the dark web for illegal activities.
I believe they're trying to justify themselves to use the blockchain technology and their chinacoin, while they were anti-crypto before.
It's like saying "cryptocurrencies are bad but if it's a government, it's a revolution"

Yeah, they had to ruin it:

However, this feature also makes Bitcoin widely used in illegal transactions such as money laundering. Currently, the most important uses of bitcoin payments are black market transactions and "dark net" transactions.

Also the last paragraph (obvious google translate, some terms are 100% wrong)

Bitcoin is just a bunch of data. If it is not linked to real money and physical goods, it is difficult to ensure the stability of its price. The promise of national sovereign credit makes the French currency not depreciate sharply in a short period of time, so people are willing to use legal currency instead of returning to the gold and silver currency. Unlike legal currency, in the absence of legal constraints, physical owners can hook and decouple with Bitcoin as they wish, making Bitcoin very susceptible to irrational emotions and large fluctuations in prices.

I'm starting to see the same trend you mentioned in the Chinese press and the few announcements they make.
Blockchain is good, bitcoin is bad, we can make a better one!

Probably by next year, we will see another Chinese ripple or something like that, with a fixed price, controlled addresses linked with government id, chargeback, the possibility of freezing funds, all the good stuff

I stand by my beliefs, nothin good for bitcoin comes from China!

[1Referee]

China is full of shit. They hate freedom. Bitcoin empowers that. Result is China no like Bitcoin. China blackmail Bitcoin.

It's not a surprise that they have always had centralized garbage projects up high in their top cryptocurrency rankings list. EOS on the very top of the list, a pile of garbage that has proven to be centralized by reversing transactions of stolen coins. Obviously, it's great that people got their funds back, but that doesn't bode well for anyone seeking absolute censorship resistance.

[hugeblack]

It seems that the Chinese government wants to create a background for the introduction of its official digital currency, so it gives a legislative framework for the definition of the most famous cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) and then described it as used in the dark activities to give its digital coin (an acceptable reasons) "modernity and centralization."

It is a good step and I think a lot of Chinese will discuss before relying on what the government says.

[Betwrong]

This whole news looks very suspicious to me.

1. http://xh.xhby.net/ is not Xinhua's official website, http://www.xinhuanet.com/ is.

2. Here's Xinhua's official website in English: http://www.news.cn/english/ , and there is no such news there.

3. Why should I trust an article based on a tweet made by a random guy?

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Swordsoffreedom]

This is English translation of article published in Chinese state newspaper Xinhua. I used Google Translate but it's still decent translation, except for last paragraph which sounds a bit off.

Bitcoin: The first successful application of blockchain technology
Reluctant Luo Hanhan

Bitcoin is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics in recent years. Is it the inevitable trend of future currency development, or is it another "tulip bulb" that is frantically hyped?

First of all, Bitcoin is not a tangible currency. It is produced and operated on the Internet. It is an open source P2P (Peer to Peer) digital "currency". Unlike the early days of gold and silver, which were chosen for their natural attributes, they are different from Fiat Money, which has been used for nearly 100 years. Banknotes supported by national laws and sovereign credit, Bitcoin is completely born in the modern technology Internet. era.

Bitcoin is the first successful application of blockchain technology. The transaction records of the traditional financial system are kept in the database of the bank center, and the blockchain is the book of Bitcoin. The ownership of the bitcoin generated at any time and the transaction record are recorded in the blockchain book. Anyone who downloads the client can receive the relevant information.

The address and private key of Bitcoin are similar to personal accounts and payment passwords. The bitcoin owned by the individual is locked on the personal address, and only the private key can be used to unlock and send it to another address to realize the transaction. During the transaction, a bill will be sent to the whole network, and other users will check it. Once verified, the transaction will be successful. The first user to verify that the transaction is valid will be rewarded with a bitcoin. The bonus bitcoin is divided into two parts: one is the transaction fee, which is paid by the transferor, which is the existing bitcoin in the system; the other is the newly generated bitcoin reward of the system. The greater the computer's power, the more likely it is to get a bitcoin reward. The so-called "miners" are people who specialize in verifying transaction information and updating records.

In general, Bitcoin has the following characteristics:

The total amount is limited and the issue will not go out of control. The only source of Bitcoin is the underlying reward for the system after successful accounting. The basic rewards start with 50 bitcoins. After creating 210,000 blocks, the rewards will be halved. So far, the halving has happened twice, and successful accounting will only get 12.5 bitcoins. It is estimated that by 2140, the total amount of Bitcoin will reach the upper limit of 21 million.

Good anonymity, the identity of the account holder will not be known to anyone. People can freely transfer money through Bitcoin without having to verify various identity information like bank transfer, not to bind to any bank card. However, this feature also makes Bitcoin widely used in illegal transactions such as money laundering. Currently, the most important uses of bitcoin payments are black market transactions and "dark net" transactions.

The production and maintenance of Bitcoin consumes a lot of energy. "Mining" solves complex mathematical problems every time a new bitcoin is produced by performing an encryption process on a high-performance computer. Since the amount of money obtained by mining is directly proportional to the computing power of the machine, in terms of probability, the higher the performance of the hardware, the higher the proportion of computing power among all miners, and the easier access to bitcoin. In order to obtain higher profits, the "miners" competed in each other's computing power. The total computing power of the top 10 mining pools in the world accounted for 75% of the bitcoin computing power. The computing power is highly concentrated and maintains distribution. Decentralized accounts require a lot of energy.

The price of Bitcoin is subject to large fluctuations. Bitcoin is just a bunch of data. If it is not linked to real money and physical goods, it is difficult to ensure the stability of its price. The promise of national sovereign credit makes the French currency not depreciate sharply in a short period of time, so people are willing to use legal currency instead of returning to the gold and silver currency. Unlike legal currency, in the absence of legal constraints, physical owners can hook and decouple with Bitcoin as they wish, making Bitcoin very susceptible to irrational emotions and large fluctuations in prices.

I think it's not a bad article! It's quite informative for general public and most of it is true. It's not communist propaganda as many of you suggest. Well, it does exaggerate with dark net transactions but honestly, many articles in western mainstream media were the same in 2017. If you ask general public or, say, boomers here in Europe, what is Bitcoin used for, many will tell you that they read it's used for illegal purchases over the internet.
Overall I think such articles are a positive thing because Chinese market is huge and just think how many millions of people more know about Bitcoin because of this article. It's not like Chinese government is trying to hide it. The opposite!

[Carlton Banks]

Yeah, they had to ruin it:

However, this feature also makes Bitcoin widely used in illegal transactions such as money laundering. Currently, the most important uses of bitcoin payments are black market transactions and "dark net" transactions.

a question of perspective IMO.

There's "illegal" and then there's "immoral". There are many forms of legal transactions that many people would consider immoral, and there are many illegal transactions that many would consider moral. Of course governments must express disapproval; plenty of others hold the opposite opinion, i.e. government sycophants and their corporate cohorts (arguably not much difference between these categories, anyone who's a perennial loser in the corporate rat-race will maintain loyalty out of greed and a lack of courage)


It's easy to underestimate this story IMO, Xinhua is the media outlet closest to the Chinese Communist Party. When all's said and done, the "black" (i.e. "free") market is a boon to government insiders, as they know they can ratchet up prices to many multiples of the profits in the market for legalized goods. Sure, marijuana might be getting the government soft-touch all over the world these days, but there's never going to be enough public support for legalizing meth or child pimping to be able to use your bank account for that kind of trade. But demand will always be there for all kinds of unsavory stuff, and who better to conduct it than those very very bad apples who are nothing like the rest of the government

The tagline: For bleached chicken meat or self-destruct pension plans, there's fiat. For everything else, there's Bitcoin^TM

[Kyraishi]

Can't find the article either, when I googled for xinhaunet, I went to - http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/, and couldn't find the article on the front page or anywhere at all.

Even after a quick search in their own search-bar, I couldn't find anything except some reports on the Bitcoin market?



Was the article possibly deleted by the website? Or did it never exist??

[bbc.reporter]

Yeah, they had to ruin it:

However, this feature also makes Bitcoin widely used in illegal transactions such as money laundering. Currently, the most important uses of bitcoin payments are black market transactions and "dark net" transactions.

a question of perspective IMO.

There's "illegal" and then there's "immoral". There are many forms of legal transactions that many people would consider immoral, and there are many illegal transactions that many would consider moral. Of course governments must express disapproval; plenty of others hold the opposite opinion, i.e. government sycophants and their corporate cohorts (arguably not much difference between these categories, anyone who's a perennial loser in the corporate rat-race will maintain loyalty out of greed and a lack of courage)


It's easy to underestimate this story IMO, Xinhua is the media outlet closest to the Chinese Communist Party. When all's said and done, the "black" (i.e. "free") market is a boon to government insiders, as they know they can ratchet up prices to many multiples of the profits in the market for legalized goods. Sure, marijuana might be getting the government soft-touch all over the world these days, but there's never going to be enough public support for legalizing meth or child pimping to be able to use your bank account for that kind of trade. But demand will always be there for all kinds of unsavory stuff, and who better to conduct it than those very very bad apples who are nothing like the rest of the government

The tagline: For bleached chicken meat or self-destruct pension plans, there's fiat. For everything else, there's Bitcoin^TM

Also, bitcoin for illegal transactions is a form of power. It attracted many people to buy and hold bitcoin before 2017, I reckon it will certainly attract many Chinese people again.

Xinhua might be marketing for bitcoin without knowing it hehehe.

[stompix]

This whole news looks very suspicious to me.
1. http://xh.xhby.net/ is not Xinhua's official website, http://www.xinhuanet.com/ is.
2. Here's Xinhua's official website in English: http://www.news.cn/english/ , and there is no such news there.
3. Why should I trust an article based on a tweet made by a random guy?
Correct me if I'm wrong.

1.2 billion Chinese on this planet and none when you need something translated around here

a question of perspective IMO.

There's "illegal" and then there's "immoral".

We're talking about China, the one and only country that has introduced a citizen scorecard .

What the government will deem immoral will become illegal, and probably you will be put on the waiting list for surgery in the last place if you are caught using bitcoin. Probably I'm exaggerating, maybe I'm wrong but I repeat, my belief stands still firm, nothing good came from China and nothing good will ever come for Bitcoin.

 

When all's said and done, the "black" (i.e. "free") market is a boon to government insiders, as they know they can ratchet up prices to many multiples of the profits in the market for legalized goods.  But demand will always be there for all kinds of unsavory stuff, and who better to conduct it than those very very bad apples who are nothing like the rest of the government

There is one slight difference between a black market under a communist regime (I've lived in one) and a black market in a western country. The moment the leader thinks his lackeys are pushing the limit, one word, and the entire chain crumbles and all the products disappear till the "negative elements affecting the society" have been removed.
It's a black market, but, since we're on the crypto subject, it's more like a centralized one:P.
No matter the demand, the offer will not appear if it's not in line with the one controlling it.

[adeandro]

But as we know this is not the last application and is still to come.

[Carlton Banks]

We're talking about China, the one and only country that has introduced a citizen scorecard .

the West has that too, it's just segregated into separate platforms (facebook, airbnb, uber etc). For now.

There is one slight difference between a black market under a communist regime (I've lived in one) and a black market in a western country. The moment the leader thinks his lackeys are pushing the limit, one word, and the entire chain crumbles and all the products disappear

the West probably has that also. Black markets must be pretty politicized, centralized and controlled, otherwise the price of illegal goods wouldn't be so uniform, price wouldn't rise and fall uniformly, supply wouldn't abruptly stop uniformly.

[LeGaulois]

...

Ok, thanks for the translation, so I summarize the article and more precisely the arguments used.
(Keep in mind the title: " Bitcoin Presented as ‘First Successful Application of Blockchain’)

1) Bitcoin is used a lot in illegal activities such as money laundering.
2) It costs a lot of energy for mining
3) the value is too fluctuating

You expect me to believe it's a favorable article about Bitcoin?

1) has been debunked so many times.
2) the myth
3) more or less but like any currency, asset, etc..

Pure propaganda.

[Theb]

However, the skeptical me is asking what is the government controlled news agency's agenda for reporting this? Why today? The Chinese authorities have always been against bitcoin.

They aren't against it and I believe what we have been hearing crypto related news in China has been heavily padded or all through out wrong compared to the current situation in China brought to us by main stream crypto news websites that all cared about clickbaity headlines and misleading news. They have been talking about bans in trading yet we see Chinese crypto exchange like Huobi and OkEX with one of the highest daily trading volumes in the crypto market, we have news about bans for crypto mining yet the number one manufacturer of mining rigs, Bitmain, is doing its operations in China. Also they won't really praise Bitcoin or make it into their news if they aren't holding any of their own, they might just be doing this to create some kind of FOMO in the market.

[rodel caling]

Wow glad to heard that news Chinese appreciate the capability of bitcoin including blocchain, the parthnership of bitcoin and blockchain is very important to make fast transfer funds(bitcoin)for every single transaction using blockchain to make easy way to the people.