The first news article about Bitcoin, published by PC World Magazine

The PC World article titled “Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?” by Keir Thomas, published on December 10, 2010, is a significant piece in the history of Bitcoin. It discusses the potential of Bitcoin as a decentralized virtual currency in the wake of the Wikileaks scandal, which had led to various services refusing to handle Wikileaks’ business.
 

The article explores the idea that Bitcoin could be a solution to the monopoly of online payment systems like PayPal, which had ceased processing donations to Wikileaks. It introduces Bitcoin as the creation of a anonymous programmer, Satoshi Nakamoto, and explains how it operates independently of any central authority. The piece also details how newcomers could earn Bitcoins by running the Bitcoin client software, which would perform computationally intensive tasks.
 

Furthermore, the article compares Bitcoin to other virtual currencies that had failed in the past, like Beenz.com and Flooz.com, and questions whether Bitcoin would follow a similar path or stand the test of time. This early coverage of Bitcoin by mainstream media played a crucial role in bringing attention to the Bitcoin and its potential to revolutionize the financial system.