华盛顿邮报 FTX帝国倒下的原因是什么？(1)（在线收听）

    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 bankruptcy.

    陷入困境的加密货币交易所FTX已申请破产。

    It comes after a weeklong saga 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, collapsed, 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 founder 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 spoke 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, recede 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 accomplished 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 collapse.

    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 offshore in the Bahamas, which allowed them to escape regulatory scrutiny 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 leveraged bets and, you know, take riskier 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。