华盛顿邮报 FTX帝国倒下的原因是什么？(1)

 

    So, Tory Newmyer, as an economic-policy reporter at The Post, I know that you've been covering this incredibly closely, and I'm wondering if we can just start by having you tell me where we should start this story.

    托里·纽迈尔，作为《华盛顿邮报》的一名经济政策记者，我知道你一直在密切关注这一问题，我在想你能不能告诉我从哪里开始谈这个故事。

    This is a good question.

    这是个好问题。

    But I think maybe the right place to start is a month ago, when this thing all fell apart.

    但我觉得应该从一个月前开始谈起，当时这一切都崩溃了。

    Embattled cryptocurrency exchange FTX has filed for bankruptcy¹.

    陷入困境的加密货币交易所FTX已申请破产。

    It comes after a weeklong saga² that began with a run on FTX, triggering what could be one of the biggest meltdowns in the industry's history.

    在此之前，长达一周的系列事件始于FTX抛售货币，引发了可能是该行业历史上最大的崩盘之一。

    In the beginning of November, the crypto industry took a massive hit.

    11月初，加密货币行业遭受了巨大打击。

    One of its giants, a company called FTX, collapsed⁴, and this news left people like me with a lot of questions.

    加密货币行业的巨头公司之一，一家叫做FTX的公司倒闭了，这个消息给像我这样的人留下了很多疑问。

    Mainly, what even is FTX?

    主要是想问，FTX是一家什么样的公司？

    Who is this nerdy, moppy-haired man at the center of all this?

    站在这一切中心的这个书呆子似的，头发蓬乱的男人是谁?

    And how did he get himself into so much trouble?

    他是怎么给自己惹上这么多麻烦的?

    I didn't ever try to commit fraud on anyone.

    我从来没有试图欺骗任何人。

    I was shocked by what happened this month.

    我对这个月发生的事情感到震惊。

    That is Sam Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old founder⁵ and disgraced C.E.O. of FTX.

    这是山姆·班克曼-弗里德，30岁，他是FTX公司的创始人，也是该公司声名狼藉的首席执行官。

    He spoke⁶ at the New York Times DealBook conference last week, which is kind of surprising, because he could be facing intense legal trouble.

    他上周在《纽约时报》DealBook会议上发表了讲话，讲话内容有点令人惊讶，因为他可能会面临严重的法律麻烦。

    What are your lawyers telling you right now?

    你的律师现在跟你说了什么?

    Are they suggesting this is a good idea for you to be speaking?

    他们建议你来演讲吗？

    No, they are very much not.

    不，他们非常不建议我这么做。

    And, I mean, you know, the classic advice phrase, "Don't say anything. You know, recede⁷ into a hole."他们经典的建议短语是，“什么都别说。退到一个洞里。”

    And it's not who I am. I don't see what good is accomplished⁸ by me just sitting locked, you know, in a room, pretending the outside world doesn't exist.

    我不是这样的人。我看不出，把自己锁在房间里坐着，假装外面的世界不存在有什么好处。

    Today, I'm talking with economic policy-reporter Tory Newmyer to demystify the FTX collapse³.

    今天，我将与经济政策记者托里·纽迈尔探讨FTX倒闭的原因。

    Tory is going to pull back the curtain on Sam Bankman-Fried and will explain how this guy went from being a tech C.E.O. to a major Washington lobbyist and then how it all came crashing down around him.

    托里将揭开山姆·班克曼-弗里德的面纱，解释这家伙是如何从科技公司的首席执行官变成华盛顿邮报的主要说客的，以及他周围的一切又是如何崩溃的。

    So, Tory, what exactly is FTX?

    托里，FTX究竟是一家什么公司?

    So, FTX is a trading exchange.

    FTX是一家交易所。

    It's a website where people go on and open accounts, and they deposit currency, you know, like traditional money, dollars, and they open a trading account with this thing and they trade their dollars in for crypto.

    FTX是一个网站，人们在这个网站上开立账户，存入货币，如同传统的货币--美元一样，人们开一个交易账户，把美元换成加密货币。

    And, typically, people think about Bitcoin, but there are all these other kinds of coins beyond Bitcoin that people trade in.

    通常，人们会想到比特币，但除了比特币之外，还有其他种类的币种可供交易。

    And it really operates like a casino.

    FTX的运作就像一个赌场。

    I mean, people are buying these coins on the hopes that they go up.

    人们购买这些虚拟货币是希望它们能升值。

    FTX was popular because it was headquartered offshore⁹ in the Bahamas, which allowed them to escape regulatory scrutiny¹⁰ from the U.S. and also allowed them to offer trades in all sorts of exotic instrumentsFTX之所以广受欢迎，是因为这家公司的总部位于境外巴哈马群岛，这让他们得以逃避美国的监管审查，还允许他们提供各种奇异工具下的交易so people could make more leveraged¹¹ bets and, you know, take riskier¹² bets than what is allowed from people operating onshore in the United States.

    这样人们还可以进行更多的杠杆押注，接受比在美国境内运营所允许的风险更高的赌注。

1 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

2 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 recede   

vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进

参考例句：

• The colleges would recede in importance.大学的重要性会降低。
• He saw that the dirty water had begun to recede.他发现那污浊的水开始往下退了。

8 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

9 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

10 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

11 leveraged   

促使…改变( leverage的过去式和过去分词 )； [美国英语]杠杆式投机，（使）举债经营，（使）利用贷款进行投机

参考例句：

• Chrysler has traditionally been a highly leveraged company. 克莱斯勒一向是一家周转十分灵活的公司。
• Leveraged recaps have become popular for a number of reasons. 杠杆资本重组的大行其道有好几个原因。

12 riskier   

冒险的，危险的( risky的比较级 )

参考例句：

• Now they are starting to demand higher returns on riskier assets. 而今他们开始在风险更高的资产上要求更高的回报。
• The problem with that: RIM's business is getting riskier every quarter. 不过问题也随之而来：RIM面临的业务风险正逐季增大。