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数字货币引发兴趣和争议

People who want to buy goods, pay for services, or transfer money anywhere in the world bypassing all the banks, credit cards and other financial services, even the governments, increasingly use virtual money called Bitcoin. Devised in 2009 by a secretive software developer, whose real name nobody knows, the digital currency is generating a lot of interest - and controversy¹.

全世界通过银行、信用卡、金融服务和政府购买商品和服务的人们越来越多的使用名为比特币的虚拟货币。数字货币在2009年被一个匿名的秘密软件开发商研发出来，现在它正在吸引很多人的兴趣，和争议。

About 1,700 businesses around the word now accept Bitcoins. The encrypted electronic money is sold, bought and transferred like traditional currencies through trading companies. Transactions are done without involvement or regulation by third parties or governments.

现在大约有1700家全球商家接受比特币。这种加密的电子货币像传统货币一样在交易公司之间被出售、购买和转账。交易在没有第三方或政府管理的参与下进行。

That makes Bitcoin the world’s first, completely decentralized digital currency, says technology policy analyst³ Jerry Brito. “Bitcoin basically solved a computer science problem that, for the first time, allows just two people to transact² online, so it’s decentralized. There’s no Bitcoin company, there’s no government, it’s kind of like email.”

科技政策分析员杰瑞·布里特说，这使比特币成为了全球第一种完全分散的数字货币。他说“比特币基本上第一次解决了一个只让两个人在线交易的电脑科学问题，所以它是分散的。没有比特币公司、没有政府，它有点像电子邮件。”

That makes it attractive to criminals who want to transfer money secretly. But U.S. law enforcement agencies recently shut down an online black market based on the system.

这让它对于那些想要秘密转移资金的罪犯来说很有吸引力。但是美国的法律执行机构最近关闭了一家基于这个系统的在线黑钱市场。

As the chairman of Bitcoin Foundation’s Regulatory Affairs Committee, Marco Santori, points out, all Bitcoin transactions can be seen by all other computers.

像比特币基金会监管事务委员会主席马可·圣多里指出的，所有的比特币交易可以被其他所有电脑看到。

“Absolutely. Bitcoin is in fact heavily regulated. It is very heavily regulated. Those who exchange Bitcoins for other digital currencies or exchange Bitcoins for dollars are money transmitters under the Bank Secrecy⁴ Act,” said Santori.

他说：“当然。实际上比特币是被严格监管的。那些用比特币交换其他数字货币，或者用比特币换美金的活动是在银行保密法案之下的金钱交换。”

The reliability⁵ of the system is based on the fact that the amount of bitcoins in the entire system must always be accounted for. Users' computers that constantly monitor and approve transactions are rewarded with new bitcoins, which is how additional funds are added to the system, said Brito.

这个系统的可靠性建立在整个系统的比特币都是有账户的这一事实基础上。布里特说，一直监控和允许交易的用户电脑得到新的比特币，更多资金被加入到系统中。

“Every 10 minutes there are 25.5 bitcoins introduced into the economy and it is given to one of the miners, kind of at random⁶ as it were, who are contributing the computer capacity,” said Brito.

他说：“每分钟有25.5个比特币被加入到经济中。这些比特币以一种有点随意的方式，给了为电脑容量做贡献的挖矿者中的一员。”

The United States, Germany, and many other governments accept the use of the digital currency, although some officials have called for greater oversight⁷. China recently banned its banks, but not its businesses, from trading in Bitcoin.

尽管一些官员提出要加强监管，美国、德国和其他许多政府接受数字货币的使用。中国最近禁止银行交易比特币，但是不限制商业的交易。

Santori said that sending money now across the globe has become much easier and cheaper. “They don’t always have to send dollars or some derivative⁸ of a dollar. They can send Bitcoin.”

圣多里说在全球传送金钱变得更容易和更便宜了。他说：“他们不需要总是送美金或者美金的衍生品。他们可以送比特币。”

Since its introduction in 2009, the value of a Bitcoin has fluctuated from mere⁹ pennies to close to 1,000 U.S. dollars. And as more and more companies accept it for goods and services, and more and more consumers use it, the virtual currency is becoming a real fixture¹⁰ on the global financial scene.

从2009年诞生以来，比特币的价值从只有几美分到接近1000美元之间波动。随着越来越多的公司接受比特币购买商品和服务，越来越多的顾客使用比特币，这种虚拟货币正在成为全球金融场景里的固定形象。