2021年经济学人 古巴的加密货币（在线收听）

The Americas

美洲版块

Digital currencies

数字货币

Red, white and blue tape

红白蓝条旗（喻指古巴）

Cuba's communist regime is trying to control crypto

古巴的共产主义政权正试图控制加密货币

SAILY DE AMARILLO is an entrepreneur in a system that discourages diversity.

企业家赛利·德·阿马里洛所在的系统是一个缺乏多样性的系统。

In Havana she runs a boutique hotel, a café and a co-working space.

在哈瓦那，她经营着一家精品酒店、一家咖啡馆和一个共享办公空间。

She also teaches people about social media on Slyk, a website that has taken off in Cuba.

她还在Slyk上教授人们关于社交媒体的知识，Slyk是一个在古巴流行的网站。

Slyk gives her an online presence without having to build a website.

她不需要创建网站，可以在Slyk上进行在线展示。

Even more important, she can be paid for her work in crypto currency.

更重要的是，她的工作报酬以加密货币支付。

Parts of Latin America and the Caribbean are experimenting with alternatives to cash.

拉丁美洲和加勒比海的部分地区正在试验用其他货币代替现金。

In September Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, introduced a law which makes bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, legal tender.

9月，萨尔瓦多总统纳伊布·布克莱推出了一项法律，使比特币成为法定货币。

Mr Bukele, who is increasingly authoritarian, pushed through the law despite the fact few Salvadoreans actually want to use crypto.

尽管很少有萨尔瓦多人真正想要使用加密货币，越来越专治的布克莱还是推动了这项法律的通过。

Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's autocrat, may have been hoping to catch some of the same headlines when he announced the country's new “digital bolivar” in August.

委内瑞拉独裁者尼古拉斯·马杜罗希望在8月份宣布该国新的“数字委内瑞拉银币”时能抓住一些同样的头条新闻。

Digital in name only, the new banknotes lop six zeros off a currency ravaged by years of hyperinflation.

这种新纸币名义上是数字的，将多年来饱受恶性通货膨胀蹂躏的货币去掉了6个零。

Locals, tired of carrying bundles of cash, use mobile payments and debit cards instead.

当地人厌倦了随身携带成捆的现金，转而使用移动支付和借记卡。

Cuba is part of this trend—but, as ever with the communist island, with a twist of its own.

古巴是这一趋势的一部分，但就像这个共产主义岛屿一样，它也有自己的独特之处。

Interest in crypto had been bubbling for a while, but took off properly late last year, when President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on organisations affiliated with the Cuban armed forces.

人们对加密货币的兴趣已经酝酿了一段时间，但在去年年底，当唐纳德·特朗普总统对与古巴武装部队有关联的组织实施制裁后，人们对加密货币的兴趣开始增加。

That included the banks which process much-needed remittances from family members abroad.

这其中包括审核海外家庭成员加急汇款的银行。

Almost overnight, firms such as Western Union could no longer operate.

几乎一夜之间，像西联汇款这样的公司就无法再运营了。

This cut off a lifeline in a country in which payment firms such as Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and Stripe were already off-limits.

Visa信用卡、万事达信用卡、贝宝和stripe等支付公司已经被禁止进入，切断了在该国的业务线。

Accustomed to finding creative workarounds in desperate situations, Cubans abroad began offering to sell cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, to people on the island with mobile phones and the technological know-how.

古巴人习惯了在绝望的情况下寻找创造性的变通办法，他们开始向岛上拥有手机和技术诀窍的人出售加密货币，比如比特币。

The buyers would then deliver the purchase price in pesos to the seller's family or friends.

然后，买家将以比索计算的买入价交给卖家的家人或朋友。

Initially many of these transactions happened informally over social-messaging apps.

最初，许多此类交易都是通过社交通讯应用非正式进行的。

As crypto became more common, people turned to specialist platforms, such as BitRemesas, founded in September 2020 by Erich García, a Cuban YouTube influencer who makes videos about the internet.

随着加密货币变得越来越普遍，人们转向了专业平台，比如BitRemesas。BitRemesas是由埃里克García于2020年9月创立的，埃里克是一位古巴的YouTube网红，制作视频发布到互联网上。

BitRemesas matches crypto sellers outside the country with buyers on the island through auctions.

BitRemesas通过拍卖为国外的加密货币卖家和岛上的买家牵线搭桥。

Now the Cuban government wants to muscle in.

现在古巴政府想要强行介入。

At the end of August, the central bank announced that it would recognise and regulate the use of crypto.

8月底，央行宣布将承认并规范加密货币的使用。

As is so often true in Cuba, details of the new rules remain cryptic.

就像古巴经常发生的那样，新规则的细节仍然模糊不清。

But the government's desire to clamp down on a new technology comes at a worrying time.

但是，政府想要取缔一项新技术的想法似乎有些不合时宜。

In July countrywide protests were met with police repression and house arrests.

7月份，全国范围内的抗议活动遭到警察镇压和软禁。

Activists had hoped to stage a peaceful march on November 15th, but the government has refused them permission to do so.

参与抗议活动的人曾希望在11月15日举行和平游行，但被政府拒绝了。

Rather than deal with their discontent, it claims that they are agents for the United States.

政府并没有处理他们的不满，而是声称他们是美国的代理人。

Many of those who protested in July were calling for reforms to an unfair financial system that requires Cubans who are lucky enough to have dollars to exchange them at a lousy rate for other currencies, or for pre-paid cards to buy food and basic goods in state-run shops.

7月份抗议的许多人呼吁改革不公平的金融体系，要求拥有美元的古巴人以极低的汇率将美元兑换成其他货币，或者要求其使用预付卡在国营商店购买食品和基本商品。

Crypto might offer a lifeline to some.

加密货币可能会为一些人提供一条生命线。

But it will take more than the world's most decentralised currency to change one of the world's most centrally-planned economies.

但要改变世界上最具有中央计划经济特色的经济体之一，需要的不仅仅是世界上最分散的货币。