（133）2015/8/1：比特币：一场游戏一场梦
Leaves译 2015/8/1 原文来源：纽约时报
比特币：一场游戏一场梦
FOR the obsessive followers of the volatile virtual currency bitcoin, the price of a single bitcoin at the time their fixation began holds undue significance. I know one bitcoin cost around $9 when I first stumbled on it in the summer of 2011. That was before I single-handedly sent the price of bitcoin soaring.
比特币是一种价格频繁波动的虚拟货币，对于它的痴迷拥趸来说，单个比特币在他们这种着迷初始阶段的价格具有极其重要的意义。2011年夏天我误打误撞开始玩比特币的时候，一个比特币大约值9美元。在那以后，我单枪匹马使比特币的价格一飞冲天。
I wasn’t trying to manipulate an underground economy. I was just doing my job as a blogger for the website Gawker when I broke the story of the online underground illegal drug market Silk Road, on which bitcoin was the only accepted currency because of its relative anonymity. The article went viral and introduced hundreds of thousands to bitcoin.
我并不是想操作一个地下经济体系。作为高客网（Gawker）的一名博主，将在线地下非法药物交易市场“思路”（Silk Road）爆料出来，这只是我的工作。由于比特币的相对匿名性，因此它是“思路”唯一接受的流通货币。我写的那篇文章如同病毒般扩散了出去，将成千上万的人引向了比特币。
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, helped, too. During a news conference a couple of days after my article was published, he called bitcoin “an online form of money laundering.” I suppose a lot of people thought that sounded pretty cool. The price of bitcoin surged to $14.
纽约的民主党参议院查理斯•E•舒莫（Charles E. Schumer）同样起到了推波助澜的作用。在我那篇文章发表几天后的一次新闻发布会上，他将比特币称为“一种在线的洗钱方式”。我猜很多人认为这种描述听起来相当之酷。于是，比特币的价格飙升到了14美元。
Huh, I thought, maybe I should buy some bitcoin.
我那时觉得，可能自己也该吃进一些比特币。
But I didn’t, and as of this writing, one bitcoin is worth around $880. Senate hearings held to discuss regulating bitcoin earlier this month were “lovefests,” according to The Washington Post. Abroad, Chinese investors are flocking. Bitcoin seems on the brink of respectability.
但我并没有去买，在写这篇文章之前，一个比特币大约价值880美元。《华盛顿邮报》（The Washington Post）称，本月上旬召开的谈论比特币管理的参议院听证会“人气爆棚”。在海外，中国投资者也是趋之若鹜。比特币的地位看上去即将平步青云，扶摇直上。
Still, there’s a zaniness about the currency. Bitcoin is built on a weird mix of the most old-fashioned kind of speculative greed, bolstered by a contemporary utopian cyberlibertarian ideology. Boosters say that bitcoin is the currency of the future. I’d argue that the phenomenon is a digital gold rush perfectly emblematic of the present.
然而，这种货币有它荒唐的一面。那种最老式的投机者的贪婪形成了一种怪异的混合体，比特币正是建立在其之上，同时，一种当代乌托邦式的网络自由思想又为它提供了支撑。支持者说，比特币是未来的货币。我得说，该现象是一种数字化版的淘金热，淋漓尽致地反映出了当下的态势。
Some of bitcoin’s appeal comes from the fact that it does not physically exist. Each bitcoin is just a string of numbers. Instead of a bank, a decentralized network of computers ensures the authenticity of bitcoin and issues new ones by doing complex calculations. This allows bitcoin to be traded peer to peer, bypassing credit card companies and payment processors. It’s digital cash, offering the same relative anonymity and freedom as a paper sack of bills. WikiLeaks began accepting bitcoin donations in 2011 in order to bypass PayPal and credit card companies, which had frozen payments to the organization.
比特币的部分吸引力来源于以下事实：它在实际中并不存在。每个比特币都不过是一串数字。和银行不同的地方在于，去中心化的电脑网络可以确保比特币的可靠性，并通过复杂得计算来发行新的比特币。这就使比特币可以绕过信用卡公司和支付处理系统进行用户之间点对点的交易。这是一种数字化的现金，可以像装票据的纸袋一样提供相对的匿名性和自由度。维基解密（WikiLeaks）网站自2011年开始接受比特币捐赠，目的是绕过已经冻结了针对该组织支付的贝宝（Paypal）和信用卡公司。
The WikiLeaks episode hints at the utopian promise built into bitcoin by its creator, a mysterious programmer called Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity is a subject of dispute and intrigue. The ideas behind bitcoin can be traced to a 1988 tract called the Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, which loftily predicted a future where anonymity-protecting technology made state control of the market impossible. Everything would be for sale to anyone all the time, 100 percent tax-free. Many of bitcoin’s hard-core fans see the currency as a revolutionary step toward this anarchocapitalist wonderland.
维基解密的故事反映出比特币的创造者、一位名叫中本聪（Satoshi Nakamoto）的神秘程序员构建的那种乌托邦式的承诺，其人的身份充满了争议和谜团。比特币背后的理念可以追溯到一篇1988年的短文《秘密无政府主义者宣言》（Crypto Anarchist Manifesto）。该文以一种虚无缥缈的口吻预测了这么一种未来：匿名保护技术使得国家无法再控制市场，任何东西可以在任何时间出售给任何人，且百分之百无税。很多比特币的核心拥趸将这种货币视为通往那个无政府资本主义乐园的革命性一步。
I’m skeptical. I don’t think we’ll all be paying in bitcoin for tickets to Kanye West’s 2024 presidential victory tour. You can’t use bitcoin for much today besides gambling in online casinos and reserving seats on Virgin Galactic spaceflights, and a vast majority of it is held by speculators. Even with the imprimatur of government regulation, the promise of bitcoin seems to end with helping online retailers avoid credit-card processing fees. Bitcoin is mainly innovative in the way of credit default swaps: new ways to gamble with money.
对此我表示怀疑。我觉得到2024年，不会所有人都要用比特币购买坎耶•维斯特（Kanye West）总统选举获胜巡演的门票。眼下，除了在在线游乐场赌博，以及在维京银河（Virgin Galactic）公司那里预定太空游的席位，比特币还没有太多用武之地，而且大部分比特币为投资者所持有。即使有政府的监管许可，比特币的前景看起来也不过就是帮助在线零售商规避信用卡处理程序带来的费用。说比特币创新，主要体现在信用违约交换的方式上：它创造了新的赌钱姿势。
Bitcoin is most interesting on an emotional level. Its sheen of technomagic has let uber-rational geeks treat the casino-floor frenzy as a serious technological story. Tech blogs breathlessly track the price of bitcoin. Each new business that accepts bitcoin is heralded with the fanfare of a despot opening his country’s borders to a new, previously outlawed luxury. The drumbeat suggests that getting rich is as simple as being an early adopter.
比特币最有趣的地方在于情感层面，其技术魔力的闪光使得极其理性的极客把这种建立在赌博之上的狂热当成是严肃的技术故事。技术博客拼了命地关注着比特币的价格。只要有一个行业接受了比特币，总会有人大吹大擂，将此形容为暴君打开国门，通往一个全新的、过去宣布为非法的奇珍异宝。这种鼓噪之声使人觉得，要发财很简单，趁早接受比特币就行了。
So many have bought in because the Internet is very good at stoking the fear of missing out. There’s even a trendy acronym, FOMO, to describe the anxiety inspired by scrolling through the social media accounts of people having more fun than you. Bitcoin fosters a particularly potent brand of FOMO. Recently there was the story of the Norwegian 20-something who discovered that his long-forgotten bitcoin, bought for basically nothing, was worth so much that he traded some of it to buy an apartment. Bitcoin holders have taken to posting screenshots of their swollen accounts. I know a guy who bought a few hundred dollars’ worth of bitcoin as a sort of joke years ago. Now he’s made enough to buy a nice car.
于是，人们大量购入比特币，因为互联网使人越来越害怕错过什么。看到社交媒体上很多人拥有的乐趣比自己多，人会产生焦虑，甚至还有个流行的缩写“FOMO”（即“fear of missing out”——译注）来描述这种焦虑。比特币催生出了一种尤其刚猛的FOMO类型。最近有个故事，说挪威一个20岁左右的年轻人，很久以前以基本上算是免费的价格买过比特币，后来自己都忘了这档事，等到再发现时它们的价格已经变得高高在上。他将持有的比特币卖掉了一点，换来的钱买了套公寓。随着自己的账户日益庞大，比特币持有者热衷于在网上晒截图。我认识一个家伙，几年前以玩笑的心态买了价值几百美元的比特币，现在他赚的钱都足够买辆好车了。
All I can say is that the crash is going to be great. Bitcoin is too dependent on speculative mania to be of practical use as a currency. But as a symbol of the misguided dream that one can tap into the global data stream and download riches like a pop song, it’s gold.
我想说的是，未来的灾难将异常沉重。比特币过于依赖投机狂热，无法作为实际货币使用。然而，有人梦想着可以进入全球的数据流中，像下载流行歌曲那样将财富下载下来。对于这种误入歧途的梦想，比特币堪比黄金。
比特币：一场游戏一场梦
FOR the obsessive followers of the volatile virtual currency bitcoin, the price of a single bitcoin at the time their fixation began holds undue significance. I know one bitcoin cost around $9 when I first stumbled on it in the summer of 2011. That was before I single-handedly sent the price of bitcoin soaring.
比特币是一种价格频繁波动的虚拟货币，对于它的痴迷拥趸来说，单个比特币在他们这种着迷初始阶段的价格具有极其重要的意义。2011年夏天我误打误撞开始玩比特币的时候，一个比特币大约值9美元。在那以后，我单枪匹马使比特币的价格一飞冲天。
I wasn’t trying to manipulate an underground economy. I was just doing my job as a blogger for the website Gawker when I broke the story of the online underground illegal drug market Silk Road, on which bitcoin was the only accepted currency because of its relative anonymity. The article went viral and introduced hundreds of thousands to bitcoin.
我并不是想操作一个地下经济体系。作为高客网（Gawker）的一名博主，将在线地下非法药物交易市场“思路”（Silk Road）爆料出来，这只是我的工作。由于比特币的相对匿名性，因此它是“思路”唯一接受的流通货币。我写的那篇文章如同病毒般扩散了出去，将成千上万的人引向了比特币。
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, helped, too. During a news conference a couple of days after my article was published, he called bitcoin “an online form of money laundering.” I suppose a lot of people thought that sounded pretty cool. The price of bitcoin surged to $14.
纽约的民主党参议院查理斯•E•舒莫（Charles E. Schumer）同样起到了推波助澜的作用。在我那篇文章发表几天后的一次新闻发布会上，他将比特币称为“一种在线的洗钱方式”。我猜很多人认为这种描述听起来相当之酷。于是，比特币的价格飙升到了14美元。
Huh, I thought, maybe I should buy some bitcoin.
我那时觉得，可能自己也该吃进一些比特币。
But I didn’t, and as of this writing, one bitcoin is worth around $880. Senate hearings held to discuss regulating bitcoin earlier this month were “lovefests,” according to The Washington Post. Abroad, Chinese investors are flocking. Bitcoin seems on the brink of respectability.
但我并没有去买，在写这篇文章之前，一个比特币大约价值880美元。《华盛顿邮报》（The Washington Post）称，本月上旬召开的谈论比特币管理的参议院听证会“人气爆棚”。在海外，中国投资者也是趋之若鹜。比特币的地位看上去即将平步青云，扶摇直上。
Still, there’s a zaniness about the currency. Bitcoin is built on a weird mix of the most old-fashioned kind of speculative greed, bolstered by a contemporary utopian cyberlibertarian ideology. Boosters say that bitcoin is the currency of the future. I’d argue that the phenomenon is a digital gold rush perfectly emblematic of the present.
然而，这种货币有它荒唐的一面。那种最老式的投机者的贪婪形成了一种怪异的混合体，比特币正是建立在其之上，同时，一种当代乌托邦式的网络自由思想又为它提供了支撑。支持者说，比特币是未来的货币。我得说，该现象是一种数字化版的淘金热，淋漓尽致地反映出了当下的态势。
Some of bitcoin’s appeal comes from the fact that it does not physically exist. Each bitcoin is just a string of numbers. Instead of a bank, a decentralized network of computers ensures the authenticity of bitcoin and issues new ones by doing complex calculations. This allows bitcoin to be traded peer to peer, bypassing credit card companies and payment processors. It’s digital cash, offering the same relative anonymity and freedom as a paper sack of bills. WikiLeaks began accepting bitcoin donations in 2011 in order to bypass PayPal and credit card companies, which had frozen payments to the organization.
比特币的部分吸引力来源于以下事实：它在实际中并不存在。每个比特币都不过是一串数字。和银行不同的地方在于，去中心化的电脑网络可以确保比特币的可靠性，并通过复杂得计算来发行新的比特币。这就使比特币可以绕过信用卡公司和支付处理系统进行用户之间点对点的交易。这是一种数字化的现金，可以像装票据的纸袋一样提供相对的匿名性和自由度。维基解密（WikiLeaks）网站自2011年开始接受比特币捐赠，目的是绕过已经冻结了针对该组织支付的贝宝（Paypal）和信用卡公司。
The WikiLeaks episode hints at the utopian promise built into bitcoin by its creator, a mysterious programmer called Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity is a subject of dispute and intrigue. The ideas behind bitcoin can be traced to a 1988 tract called the Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, which loftily predicted a future where anonymity-protecting technology made state control of the market impossible. Everything would be for sale to anyone all the time, 100 percent tax-free. Many of bitcoin’s hard-core fans see the currency as a revolutionary step toward this anarchocapitalist wonderland.
维基解密的故事反映出比特币的创造者、一位名叫中本聪（Satoshi Nakamoto）的神秘程序员构建的那种乌托邦式的承诺，其人的身份充满了争议和谜团。比特币背后的理念可以追溯到一篇1988年的短文《秘密无政府主义者宣言》（Crypto Anarchist Manifesto）。该文以一种虚无缥缈的口吻预测了这么一种未来：匿名保护技术使得国家无法再控制市场，任何东西可以在任何时间出售给任何人，且百分之百无税。很多比特币的核心拥趸将这种货币视为通往那个无政府资本主义乐园的革命性一步。
I’m skeptical. I don’t think we’ll all be paying in bitcoin for tickets to Kanye West’s 2024 presidential victory tour. You can’t use bitcoin for much today besides gambling in online casinos and reserving seats on Virgin Galactic spaceflights, and a vast majority of it is held by speculators. Even with the imprimatur of government regulation, the promise of bitcoin seems to end with helping online retailers avoid credit-card processing fees. Bitcoin is mainly innovative in the way of credit default swaps: new ways to gamble with money.
对此我表示怀疑。我觉得到2024年，不会所有人都要用比特币购买坎耶•维斯特（Kanye West）总统选举获胜巡演的门票。眼下，除了在在线游乐场赌博，以及在维京银河（Virgin Galactic）公司那里预定太空游的席位，比特币还没有太多用武之地，而且大部分比特币为投资者所持有。即使有政府的监管许可，比特币的前景看起来也不过就是帮助在线零售商规避信用卡处理程序带来的费用。说比特币创新，主要体现在信用违约交换的方式上：它创造了新的赌钱姿势。
Bitcoin is most interesting on an emotional level. Its sheen of technomagic has let uber-rational geeks treat the casino-floor frenzy as a serious technological story. Tech blogs breathlessly track the price of bitcoin. Each new business that accepts bitcoin is heralded with the fanfare of a despot opening his country’s borders to a new, previously outlawed luxury. The drumbeat suggests that getting rich is as simple as being an early adopter.
比特币最有趣的地方在于情感层面，其技术魔力的闪光使得极其理性的极客把这种建立在赌博之上的狂热当成是严肃的技术故事。技术博客拼了命地关注着比特币的价格。只要有一个行业接受了比特币，总会有人大吹大擂，将此形容为暴君打开国门，通往一个全新的、过去宣布为非法的奇珍异宝。这种鼓噪之声使人觉得，要发财很简单，趁早接受比特币就行了。
So many have bought in because the Internet is very good at stoking the fear of missing out. There’s even a trendy acronym, FOMO, to describe the anxiety inspired by scrolling through the social media accounts of people having more fun than you. Bitcoin fosters a particularly potent brand of FOMO. Recently there was the story of the Norwegian 20-something who discovered that his long-forgotten bitcoin, bought for basically nothing, was worth so much that he traded some of it to buy an apartment. Bitcoin holders have taken to posting screenshots of their swollen accounts. I know a guy who bought a few hundred dollars’ worth of bitcoin as a sort of joke years ago. Now he’s made enough to buy a nice car.
于是，人们大量购入比特币，因为互联网使人越来越害怕错过什么。看到社交媒体上很多人拥有的乐趣比自己多，人会产生焦虑，甚至还有个流行的缩写“FOMO”（即“fear of missing out”——译注）来描述这种焦虑。比特币催生出了一种尤其刚猛的FOMO类型。最近有个故事，说挪威一个20岁左右的年轻人，很久以前以基本上算是免费的价格买过比特币，后来自己都忘了这档事，等到再发现时它们的价格已经变得高高在上。他将持有的比特币卖掉了一点，换来的钱买了套公寓。随着自己的账户日益庞大，比特币持有者热衷于在网上晒截图。我认识一个家伙，几年前以玩笑的心态买了价值几百美元的比特币，现在他赚的钱都足够买辆好车了。
All I can say is that the crash is going to be great. Bitcoin is too dependent on speculative mania to be of practical use as a currency. But as a symbol of the misguided dream that one can tap into the global data stream and download riches like a pop song, it’s gold.
我想说的是，未来的灾难将异常沉重。比特币过于依赖投机狂热，无法作为实际货币使用。然而，有人梦想着可以进入全球的数据流中，像下载流行歌曲那样将财富下载下来。对于这种误入歧途的梦想，比特币堪比黄金。
