A recent Sun-Times business blog post acknowledged that bitcoin had been “battered by news of theft and volatility” lately. But that’s not stopping parent company Wrapports LLC from doubling down on the controversial digital currency.

On Thursday, the Sun-Times announced it was becoming “the first major newspaper” to accept bitcoin as payment. Customers in the Chicago area can now use bitcoin to pay for the subscriptions at bitcoin.suntimes.com.

“Our goal is to keep the Sun-Times current and evolving with changing technology,” Jim Kirk, publisher and editor-in-chief, said in a statement. “Accepting bitcoin payments is one of many ways we are working to stay digitally focused.”

Last February 1, the Sun-Times ran a one-day test of bit coins as micro-payments for a voluntary pay wall. Proceeds from the experiment benefitted Taproot Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit.

Josh Metnick, chief technology officer for Wrapports, told Business Insider that bitcoin payments may be expanded to other products by the company.

"The implications of this extend beyond just ability to process subscriptions — it is the furthering of our BTC processing capabilities such that we can extend it into other content and media products down the line," Metnick was quoted as saying.