Oldest Chinese Magazine now Accepts Bitcoin Subscription Payments

The oldest magazine in China announced it would begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for its 2019 subscription.

China’s oldest and most reputable science and technology magazine, Beijing-based Sci-Tech Report (BSTR), also called “Technology Life,” announced plans to accept Bitcoin as a payment method for next year’s subscriptions, the company said in a statement.

The move makes Technology Life the first media organization in China to accept cryptocurrency as payment. It is also seen as an acknowledgment of Bitcoin as a legitimate form of exchange of value.

"In the past two years, blockchain as a new Internet technology has become an increasingly popular concern. Bitcoin, which was born in 2009, is currently the most widely-used cryptographic digital currency in the world, using the distribution of many nodes in the entire network. The database is used to identify and record all trading behaviors, and the use of cryptography to ensure the security of all aspects of currency circulation is the best practical application of blockchain technology so far."

BSTR believes the services in cryptographic money are enough to convince fans of cryptocurrencies and investors to support their shift in strategy.

It added that blockchain is a new application mode of computer technology such as distributed data storage, point-to-point transmission, consensus mechanism, and encryption algorithm. As a new network technology, blockchain may be widely used in smart contracts, intellectual property, securities trading, e-commerce, Internet of Things, social communication, file storage, presence proof, identity verification, and equity crowdfunding.

Despite Technology Life’s decision to accept cryptocurrency payment, China still bans digital asset trading and initial coin offerings (ICOs). Only recently, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) issued fresh warnings to investors of the risks associated with digital currency investments.