A friend I introduced to Bitcoin, phoned me today asking why China banned Bitcoin. He quoted a article in his local news paper, who quoted Bloomberg : https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-04/china-central-bank-says-initial-coin-offerings-are-illegal
The mainstream media has no f#$%^ clue what the difference between ICO's and Bitcoin is. Anyone can create a fancy webpage and a few PDF's with information on their ICO offering and then sell tokens for it.
Initial coin offering (ICO) is an unregulated means of crowdfunding via the use of cryptocurrency. The term is often confused with 'token sale' or crowdsale, which refers to a method of selling participation in an economy, giving investors access to the features of a particular project starting at a later date.
Please phone your local newspapers and explain the difference to them, because ICO's are not Bitcoin!
People will do anything to sell a few extra news papers or to receive a few extra clicks on their websites, even if they publish total rubbish. They should research a subject before they publish garbage like this.
It just shows you how unreliable information can be that are being published in the media. This might even be done on purpose. ^grrrrrrrr^
The mainstream media has no f#$%^ clue what the difference between ICO's and Bitcoin is. Anyone can create a fancy webpage and a few PDF's with information on their ICO offering and then sell tokens for it.
Initial coin offering (ICO) is an unregulated means of crowdfunding via the use of cryptocurrency. The term is often confused with 'token sale' or crowdsale, which refers to a method of selling participation in an economy, giving investors access to the features of a particular project starting at a later date.
Please phone your local newspapers and explain the difference to them, because ICO's are not Bitcoin!
People will do anything to sell a few extra news papers or to receive a few extra clicks on their websites, even if they publish total rubbish. They should research a subject before they publish garbage like this.
It just shows you how unreliable information can be that are being published in the media. This might even be done on purpose. ^grrrrrrrr^
I agree with op here, many of the my friends who are new to this crypto world were confused and they panicked when they say the price crash. Though I told them that whenever something like this happens and China is responsible prices shoot up and double up. As for those articles on the net, it's simple they are getting free traffic, plus earning money thanks to the ads posted on their website. It's a shame that people actually fall for such traps and create unnecessary confusion for everyone concerned.
Well, I phoned them today and I gave them a tongue lashing! They reacted as they usually do, "We just quoted a reputable source" < my ass > 
I explained the difference between Bitcoin and ICO's but they still ignored the truth. I get the feeling that they are forced to report negatively on Bitcoin matters. ^grrrrrr^
These articles are not being cross referenced or fact checked at all, they just take the mainstream websites opinion at face value and print it.
it's one of two possibilities: they either don't care because they're generating traffic off of dishonest clickbait, or two, your voice doesn't matter to them, and they won't take down the content without someone with more influence calling them out. I explained the difference between Bitcoin and ICO's but they still ignored the truth. I get the feeling that they are forced to report negatively on Bitcoin matters. ^grrrrrr^
These articles are not being cross referenced or fact checked at all, they just take the mainstream websites opinion at face value and print it.
They should care, because my friend cancelled his monthly subscription to the newspaper. < printed media is going out in any way > They phoned him to ask why he cancelled and his reply : " Unreliable and Biased reporting on Bitcoin matters "
One cancelation will not hurt them, but when more people start doing this, they will eventually get the message. My friend panicked and sold bitcoins, because of this and lost profits in the process. Now he has to buy back in at a much higher price.