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.

The piece was first spotted by Sino Global Capital’s CEO Matthew Graham, who shared it on the microblogging platform Twitter.

It isn’t clear how big Xinhua’s audience actually is as figures aren’t disclosed. It a state-run news outlet, which means it reaches China’s 1.4 billion people, and has been ranked as one of the top news agencies in the world.

The front-page article came shortly after China’s President Xi Jinping stated the country should “seize the opportunity” afforded by blockchain technology, praising its potential for improving various sectors. The country is, according to reports, using it to record the loyalty of its Communist Party’s members.

As CryptoGlobe reported, shortly after the President’s comments China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) stopped mentioning restricting or eliminating the cryptocurrency mining industry.

Some on social media have claimed Xinhua’s front-page piece on Bitcoin may be a way for the Chinese government to start educating people on how cryptocurrencies work and familiarizing them with the concept, so it can later on introduce its central bank digital currency.

It’s worth noting China cracked down on cryptocurrencies in 2017, banning exchanges from the country. Since then its search giant Baidu started censoring crypto discussions on forums. Nevertheless, courts have ruled bitcoin is legally protected virtual property.

Featured image by Roman Kraft on Unsplash.