Topic: 2013-11-13 "Bitcoins: A Possible Alternative" Frankfurter Allgemeine (German) (Read 870 times)

Good news everyone! The F.A.Z. is on board! (sort of)

Original article, F.A.Z., in German

Google Translate version

First, apologies for having to post this article in German, plus a Google Translate version. I know enough about machine translation myself to know that it still, hm, kinda sucks for articles like this, but you'll get the main idea from it.

A bit of context, for the non-Germans: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, also: FAZ, is, depending on who you ask, the most prestigious German daily quality newspaper, full stop, or (as even those who don't read it will admit) the most prestigious conservative daily quality paper.

In broad terms, think NYT, but keep in mind that what is considered "economically liberal" in the US would pass for "pretty conservative" in Germany.

That said, the FAZ didn't write all that much about Bitcoin in the past. A few articles, the obvious ones including "Silk Road busted, crypto-currency Bitcoin doomed now?".

So when I saw this article this morning, it was a very pleasant surprise. It's in the finance section,  so it's not their big starter article, but it's prominent enough for those who read the paper for economy/finance topics.

The article is, cautiously, positive. Acknowledging that Bitcoin *could* be interesting because it can't be devalued by governments (something that, for obvious reasons, their conservative leaning readership might like to hear), and that despite Bitcoin not being backed by any official power, it *might* just work.

So that's it. FAZ published their first, rather positive article about btc.

Next step: title story on "Der Spiegel".

My prediction: mid 2014. If, no: when that happens, we know that the early adopter phase is over, in Germany at least.