In 2011, Chinese entrepreneur Jihan Wu translated the full Bitcoin whitepaper into Chinese and released it to the public. At the time, most local media outlets in China described Bitcoin as a scam or as a system that could never function in practice. Wu disagreed and used his training in economics and computer science to assess Bitcoin’s design and decided that the technology carried long-term potential.
In an interview with Bitcoin.com on 22 October 2019, Wu said that this early environment of distrust motivated his decision. He wanted Chinese readers to access Satoshi Nakamoto’s original ideas without distortion. Instead of relying on media summaries, they could read the same document that early global Bitcoin users studied.
When Bitcoin first appeared in Chinese discussion forums, information about it remained limited. Many reports focused on price swings or compared them with online scams. These reports often ignored the technical structure of the Bitcoin network. As a result, many potential investors in China saw only risk and almost no details about how the system worked.
Jihan Wu approached Bitcoin from a different angle. He examined the whitepaper and applied his knowledge of monetary theory and computing. He saw that Bitcoin introduced digital scarcity and a fixed supply, supported by a decentralized network of nodes. The design, in his view, gave Bitcoin both economic and technical viability. This conviction led him to act while most observers stayed cautious.
Wu later described how the media climate shaped his decision. He did not aim to promote speculation or hype. Instead, he wanted to correct what he considered misinformation. By translating the whitepaper, he tried to shift the focus from rumor to documented technical facts.
Wu translated the entire Bitcoin whitepaper into Chinese rather than summarizing it. This approach allowed readers in mainland China to study Satoshi Nakamoto’s original arguments step by step. They could review the description of peer-to-peer electronic cash, proof-of-work mining, and the block structure in their own language.
The translation removed a key barrier for many early Chinese users. Before this work, most technical material about Bitcoin existed only in English. Investors who did not read English needed to rely on secondary interpretations. After Wu published the Chinese version, they could verify claims and form their own views based on the primary text.
According to Wu’s 2019 remarks, he saw the translation as an educational project. He wanted to encourage rational analysis of Bitcoin’s strengths and weaknesses. By making the whitepaper accessible, he helped shift conversations in China from simple labels like “scam” toward more detailed debates about block size, security, and real-world use.
The Chinese version of the Bitcoin whitepaper soon reached early online communities that discussed digital currency. Developers, traders, and hobbyists shared the document and referred to it in debates about mining and network design. This access supported the growth of a more informed user base inside China.
Over time, China grew into a major center for Bitcoin mining and trading. Jihan Wu played a central role in that phase as co-founder of Bitmain, a company that produces specialized mining hardware, and later as co-founder and chairman of Matrixport, a digital asset financial services platform. His first step, however, came years earlier with the translation project.
Industry observers often point to this translation as an early milestone in Bitcoin’s spread in mainland China. It gave thousands of readers a direct view of how Bitcoin works and why its protocol matters. This clarity helped lay part of the groundwork for the country’s later influence on global crypto mining, infrastructure, and investment.
Also Read: What is a Bitcoin Wallet and Which Type Should Beginners Use?
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