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比特币:挖掘数字黄金

原文作者:佚名

2009年,网络世界诞生了一个新鲜玩意——比特币。比特币不由任何政府、银行或企业所发行,但却可以在网络上真实交易。它的诞生引起计算机迷和金融投机家的兴趣,他们积极争做“矿工”,通过用电脑参与解决复杂的数学题来“挖掘”比特币。但是,由于自身的技术缺陷、交易难题以及其他数字货币的竞争,比特币的价格经历几番沉浮,不少人的信心也随之动摇。也许,比特币最终会走下神坛,陷入崩溃。但无论成功与否,它都将为整个金融行业留下恒久的遗产,继续推动新的数字货币向前发展。
   in 1999 an 18-year-old called shawn fanning changed the music industry for ever. he developed a service, napster, that allowed individuals to swap music files with one another, instead of buying pricey compact discs from record labels1). lawsuits followed and in july 2001 napster was shut down. but the idea lives on, in the form of bittorrent2) and other peer-to-peer3) filesharers; the napster brand is still used by a legal music-downloading service.[论文网]
   the story of napster helps to explain the excitement about bitcoin, a digital currency, that is based on similar technology. in january a unit of bitcoin cost around $15 (bitcoins can be broken down to eight decimal4) places for small transactions). by april, it had settled at $179, taking the value of all bitcoins in circulation to $2 billion. bitcoin has become one of the world’s hottest investments, a bubble inflated by social media, loose capital in search of the newest new thing and perhaps even by bank depositors unnerved by recent events in cyprus5).
   just like napster, bitcoin may crash but leave a lasting legacy. indeed, the currency experienced a sharp correction on april 10th—at one point losing close to half of its value before recovering sharply. yet the price is the least interesting thing about bitcoin, says tony gallippi, founder of bitpay, a firm that processes bitcoin payments for merchants. more important is the currency’s ability to make e-commerce much easier than it is today.
   bitcoin is not the only digital currency, nor the only successful one. gamers on second life6), a virtual world, pay with linden dollars; customers of tencent, a chinese internet giant, deal in qq coins; and facebook sells “credits.” what makes bitcoin different is that, unlike other online (and offline) currencies, it is neither created nor administered by a single authority such as a central bank.
   instead, “monetary policy” is determined by clever algorithms7). new bitcoins have to be “mined,” meaning users can acquire them by having their computers compete to solve complex mathematical problems (the winners get the virtual cash). the coins themselves are simply strings of numbers. they are thus a completely decentralised currency: a sort of digital gold.

 bitcoin’s inventor, satoshi nakamoto, is a mysterious hacker (or a group of hackers) who created it in 2009 and disappeared from the internet some time in 2010. the currency’s early adopters have tended to be tech-loving libertarians and gold bugs8), determined to break free of government control. the most infamous place where bitcoin is used is silk road, a marketp

lace hidden in an anonymised part of the web called tor. users order goods—typically illegal drugs—and pay with bitcoins.
   some legal businesses have started to accept bitcoins. among them are reddit, a social-media site, and wordpress, which provides web hosting9) and software for bloggers. the appeal for merchants is strong. firms such as bitpay offer spot-price10) conversion into dollars. fees are typically far less than those charged by credit-card companies or banks, particularly for orders from abroad. and bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed, so frauds cannot leave retailers out of pocket11).
   yet for bitcoins to go mainstream much has to happen, says fred ehrsam, the co-developer of coinbase, a californian bitcoin exchange and “wallet service,” where users can store their digital fortune. getting hold of bitcoins for the first time is difficult. using them is fiddly12). they can be stolen by hackers or just lost, like dollar bills in a washing machine. several bitcoin exchanges have suffered thefts and crashes over the past two years.
   as a result, the bitcoin business has consolidated. the leading exchange is mt.gox. based in tokyo and run by two frenchmen, it processes around 80% of bitcoin-dollar trades. if such a business failed, the currency would be cut off at the knees13). in fact, the price hiccup14) on april 10th was sparked by a software breakdown at mt.gox, which panicked many bitcoin users. the currency’s legal status is unclear, too. on march 18th the financial crimes enforcement network, an american government agency, proposed to regulate bitcoin exchanges; this suggests that the agency is unlikely to shut them down.
   technical problems will also have to be overcome, says mike hearn, a bitcoin expert. as more users join the network, the amount of data that has to circulate among them (to verify ownership of each bitcoin) gets bigger, which slows the system down. technical fixes could help but they are hard to deploy: all users must upgrade their bitcoin wallet and mining software. mr hearn worries that the currency could grow too fast for its own good.

but the real threat is competition. bitcoin-boosters15) like to point out that, unlike fiat money16), new bitcoins cannot be created at whim. that is true, but a new digital currency can be. alternatives are already in development. litecoin, a bitcoin clone, is one. so far it is only used by a tiny hard-core17) of geeks, but it too has shot up in price of late. rumour has it that litecoin will be tradable on mt.gox soon.
   a less nerdy alternative is ripple. it will be much easier to use than bitcoin, says chris larsen, an serial entrepreneur from silicon valley and co-founder of opencoin, the start-up behind ripple. transactions are approved (or not) in a few seconds, compared with the ten minutes a typical bitcoin trade takes to be confirmed. there is no mystery about the origins of ripple nor (yet) any association

with criminal or other dubious activities.
   opencoin is expected to start handing out ripples to the public in may. it has created 100 billion, a number it promises never to increase. to give the new currency momentum, opencoin plans eventually to give away 75% of the supply. existing bitcoin users can already claim free ripples and eventually anyone opening an opencoin account will also receive some.
   the 25% retained by opencoin will give it a huge incentive to make sure that the ripple is strong: the higher its value, the bigger the reward for opencoin’s investors. on april 10th several blue-chip18) venture-capital firms announced that they had invested in opencoin.
   if ripple gains traction19), even bigger financial players may enter the fray. a firm such as visa could create its own cheap instant international-payments system, notes bitpay’s mr gallippi. and what if a country were to issue algorithmic money?
   at that point bitcoin would probably be bust. but if that happened, its creators would have achieved something like mr fanning. napster and other file-sharing services have forced the music industry to embrace online services such as itunes or spotify. bitcoin’s price may collapse; its users may suddenly switch to another currency. but the chances are that some form of digital money will make a lasting impression on the financial landscape.
   1999年,18岁的肖恩·范宁永远地改变了音乐产业。Www.11665.Com他开发了一款叫做napster的服务软件。借助这一软件,人们可以相互交换音乐文件,而不必再去唱片公司购买价格不菲的唱片了。之后有人对此提起了诉讼,2001年7月,napster被关闭。但是(共享服务)这一理念却以比特流和其他对等文件共享的形式流传了下来。如今,一家合法的音乐下载服务商仍在使用napster这一品牌。
   napster的故事有助于解释人们对于比特币的兴奋之情。比特币是一种基于与napster类似技术的数字货币。1月份(编注:本文英文原文刊发于2013年4月),一个单位的比特币价值15美元(比特币可以分解到小数点后八位数,以便用于小额交易)。到了4月份,一个单位的比特币的价值已稳定在179美元,这使得流通中的全部比特币的价值达到20亿美元。比特币成为世界上最热门的投资项目之一,成为一个被吹捧起来的泡沫,其推手包括社交媒体、寻找最新事物的闲散资本,甚至可能还有那些对塞浦路斯金融危机深感不安的银行储户。

与napster一样,比特币可能以失败告终,但将会留下一笔恒久的遗产。事实上,比特币的市价在4月10日经历了一次大幅调整,其价格一度跌至原先的一半多一点,之后又快速回升。不过,bitpay公司(一家为商家处理比特币支付业务的公司)的创始人托尼·加利佩却说,价格是比特币最无趣的部分,该货币能够使电子商务变得比今天更容易——这才是更为重要的。
  比特币并不是唯一的数字货币,也不是唯一成功的数字货币。在线虚拟世界“第二人生”的玩家用林登币付款;中国互联网巨头腾讯公司的用户用qq币交易;脸谱网则销售“信用币”。比特币与众不同的地方在于,它与其他在线(以及线下)货币不同,并不是由中央银行这样的单一权威机构发行或是管理的。
  相反,比特币的“货币政策”由巧妙的算法决定。新的比特币需要人们“挖掘”出来。也就是说,用户可以通过用电脑竞相参与解决复杂的数学题来获取比特币(赢家获得这种虚拟货币)。比特币本身不过是一连串的数字。正因为如此,它们才成为一种完全不由中央政府控制的货币:一种数字黄金。
  比特币的创始人中本聪是一名神秘的网络黑客(或是一群黑客)。他于2009年创造了“比特币”,在2010年的某一天又从网上消失了。比特币的早期使用者往往是酷爱科技的自由论者和黄金爱好者,他们决意要摆脱政府的管控。在使用比特币的所有场所中,最臭名昭著的莫过于“丝绸之路”了。“丝绸之路”是一个交易市场,隐藏在网络上一个名为“托尔”的匿名角落里。用户们在这里订货,货物通常是非法的毒品,然后使用比特币付款。
  一些合法企业也已经开始接受比特币,其中包括社交网站红迪网以及为博主提供虚拟主机和软件的wordpress网站。比特币对商家具有强大的吸引力。像bitpay之类的公司还提供比特币与美元的现货价格兑换服务。比特币交易产生的费用——尤其是海外订单的费用——通常要比信用卡公司或银行收取的费用低得多。另外,由于比特币交易无法撤销,所以零售商们不会因为交易中的欺诈行为而蒙受损失。
  然而,比特币要想成为主流货币,还有很长的一段路要走,coinbase的联合开发者弗雷德·厄尔萨姆如是说道。coinbase位于加利福尼亚州,是一家为用户提供比特币兑换和“钱包服务”的在线交易平台,其用户可以在此存储数字财产。首次获取比特币很困难,使用比特币也绝非易事。比特币可能被黑客窃取,或是莫名丢失,就像美钞在洗衣机中被洗碎一样。在过去的两年中,有几家比特币交易平台都遭遇了盗窃和系统崩溃事件。
  正因为如此,比特币行业进行了整合。目前,比特币最主要的交易平台是mt.gox。mt.gox总部位于日本东京,由两名法国人

运作,处理全球约80%的比特币与美元的兑换业务。如果像mt.gox这样的交易平台失败,那么比特币的价格就要遭遇重创。事实上,比特币的价格在4月10日发生的短暂下滑正是由于mt.gox的某个软件发生崩溃,这也引发了很多比特币用户的恐慌。比特币的合法性也尚不明朗。3月18日,美国政府机构金融犯罪执法网就提出应对比特币交易平台进行管控。这也暗示着该机构不太可能会关闭这些平台。
  比特币专家麦克·赫恩指出,技术方面的问题也必须克服。随着更多的用户加入比特币交易网络,用户之间必须要流通的数据量(用来验证每个比特币的所有权)也日益庞大,这拖慢了整个交易系统。技术方面的补救或许有所帮助,但却很难开展,因为所有比特币用户都必须更新其比特币“钱包”和“挖掘”软件。赫恩担心,比特币会因发展过快而危及自身。
  但比特币所面临的真正威胁是竞争。比特币的支持者们想要指出的是,新的比特币不像法定货币那样能够被随意制造出来。这一说法没错,但一种新的数字货币却可以。比特币的替代产品已经在开发当中。里特币就是其中一种与比特币非常相似的电子货币。截至目前,里特币的使用者还仅限于一小部分铁杆极客,但近来它的价格也已有所飙升。有传言称,里特币很快就可以在mt.gox进行交易。
  另一个不那么书呆子气的替代品是波纹币。波纹币由新兴公司opencoin推出,该公司联合创始人、来自硅谷的企业家克里斯·拉森说,使用波纹币比使用比特币更为简单。核准(或拒绝)波纹币交易仅需几秒钟,而相比之下,典型的比特币交易则需要十分钟的时间来确认。波纹币的起源没有神秘之处,(目前来看)与犯罪活动或其他可疑活动也没有任何联系。
  据估计,opencoin公司将在5月开始向公众推出波纹币。opencoin公司已经创造出一千亿个波纹币,并承诺这一数字永不增加。为了让这一新货币有更好的发展势头,opencoin公司最终计划向外发放占供给量75%的波纹币。比特币的现有用户已经可以申领免费的波纹币。而且,任何开设opencoin账户的用户最终也将获得一些波纹币。
  opencoin公司所持有的另外25%的波纹币将会产生巨大的激励作用,以确保波纹币保持强劲的势头:波纹币的市值越高,opencoin的投资者们获取的利润也就越高。4月10日,数家蓝筹风投公司宣布他们已经注资opencoin公司。
  如果波纹币被公众接受,甚至更大的金融玩家也有可能加入到这场争斗中。bitpay的创始人加里佩说,像visa这样的信用卡公司可能会创建他们自己的便宜快捷的国际支付系统。试想,如果一个国家发行基于算法的虚拟货币,那会怎样呢?
  到了那时,比特币很可能会消亡。但是即便如此,比特币的创始者们也会像范宁先生那样,已经有所成就。napster以及其他文件分享服务的出现迫使音乐行业接受了像itunes和spotify这样的在线服务。比特币的价格可能会崩盘,它的用户可能会突然转向其他的虚拟货币。但可能出现的情况是,某种形式的数字货币会对整个金融行业产生旷日持久的影响。
  1. label [?le?b(?)l] n. 唱片公司;唱片公司的商标
  2. bittorrent:比特流,一种内容分发协议。它采用高效的软件分发系统和点对点技术共享大体积文件,并使每个用户像网络重新分配结点那样提供上传服务。

 3. peer-to-peer:[计] (计算机网络)对等的(指网络内的每一台计算机均可用作其他计算机的服务器,并允许文件与外围设备的共享)
  4. decimal [?des?m(?)l] adj. 小数的
  5. 此处指塞浦路斯在2012~2013年度发生的金融危机。
  6. second life:第二人生,由美国加州林登实验室(linden lab)开发的基于因特网的虚拟世界游戏。在这里,用户可以学习、工作、生产、购物、存款,或是跟朋友们一起四处闲逛、娱乐等。游戏中的通用货币是林登币(linden dollars),该货币可与美元以一定汇率进行自由兑换。“第二人生”内的经济活动能赚取真金白银。
  7. algorithm [??lɡ??r??(?)m] n. 算法;运算法则
  8. bug [b?ɡ] n. 热衷于某事的人;有癖好者
  9. web hosting:网页寄存,指一种因特网寄存服务,它提供个人、组织和用户用于存储信息、图像、视频或任何通过网络可访问内容的在线系统。网页寄存通称虚拟主机。
  10. spot-price:现货价格,即商品在现货交易中的成交价格
  11. out of pocket:白花钱的,赔钱的
  12. fiddly [?f?d(?)li] adj. 要求极度精确的;琐碎而难对付的
  13. cut … off at the knees:将……彻底粉碎或镇压
  14. hiccup [?h?k?p] n. 暂时的下降(或中断、停顿)
  15. booster [?bu?st?(r)] n. 热情的支持者
  16. fiat money:法定货币,指不代表实质商品或货物,只依靠政府的法令使其成为合法通货的货币。法定货币的价值来自拥有者相信货币将来能维持其购买力,货币本身并无内在价值。
  17. hard-core:(组织中)斗志最坚定的;铁杆的
  18. blue-chip:蓝筹,源于西方赌场的一个术语。在西方赌场中有三种颜色的筹码,其中蓝色筹码最为值钱。
  19. traction [?tr?k?(?)n] n. 新观点、新产品等被公众接受的程度

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