Why There Should Be A Bitcoin Central Bank
为嘛应该有个比特币中央银行?
It is no secret that today, almost all modern banks operate on the basis of fractional reserves. To put in simpler terms: banks only has in their vaults a small percentage of the money that their customers gave them; if a large enough number of customers of a specific bank want to get their money back, the bank wouldn’t be able to meet the demand. Before there was modern central bank system, the bank could either have to borrow or file for bankruptcy. The central banks by design had infinite ability to lend, for they can legally conjure up money from thin air – there is a reason that modern currencies are called fiat money.
众所周知,几乎所有的现代银行系统施行部分储备金制度。简单的解释:银行仅仅拥有很少部分的用户储蓄作为储备。如果一个足够量的用户群集体向某银行提现,银行就狗儿屁了。在这里有个中央银行,狗儿屁的银行可以选择向中央银行借钱,或者宣布破产。在这套系统中,中央银行有无限的资金可以借出,因为他们可以合法的制造大量货币,这也是现代货币被称为不可以兑现货币的原因。
The Bitcoin world doesn’t have central banks, and this fact even appeal to some of its supporters with libertarian inclinations. Among these people, a widely-held belief is that bailing out insolvent banks is no different from highway robbing; if a bank screws up, the argument maintains, it should face the consequences alone, rather than letting all economy participants across the system to share the pain in the form of debased per unit currency value.
比特币的世界没有中央银行,这个事实是很多比特币支持者用来为自由辩护的有力依据。在这些人中,他们统一观念认为,启动一个没有偿还能力的银行,无异于是开着保时捷抢劫。如果一个银行倒闭且存在争议,银行应该独自承担后果。而不是让系统经济体中其他部门共同承受贬值之痛。However, without a central bank system, a fractional reserve system can be risky. This is illustrated by the many failed banks in history and most recently, the spectacular fall of Mt. Gox. Before it became clear that the Bitcoin exchange was insolvent, users traded under the false assumption that they were trading their own bitcoins, when the reality is they were just trading in “Goxcoins”, which is just thin air. Later it is discovered that the exchange had lost tens of thousands of its customers’ coins; the cause remains a mystery to this day.
不管怎样,没有中央银行,一个部分储备金系统会有危险。这个事实已经被历史和当今很多银行证实,比如Mt.Gox. 在交易所是无偿还能力的事实被公开之前。用户在一个错误的假设下交易他们的比特币,事实却是他们仅仅在交易平台给的那些虚无的数字。后来被现,交易所数万比特币被盗,而原因至今是个谜。The collapse of Mt. Gox has great implications on the Bitcoin world. It shakes many people’s confidence in exchanges and security of the digital currency. Inevitably this has been factored into the price levels and employed by many Bitcoin critics – it is arguable that the psychological cost is even higher than the lost bitcoins.
Mt.Gox 的倒闭给比特币世界一个大的惊叹号。它动摇了大家对交易所的信心和对虚拟币安全性认可。不可避免的,这个消息导致价格波动,并且被很多比特币反对者利用。有一种说法,这次事件心理上的动摇比实际的比特币损失要严重多了。In the aftermath, there was increasing demand for the exchanges to have 100% reserve ratio. In response, a cryptographic proof of reserve system was introduced to enable exchanges to prove that they can handle a Bitcoin version of run on the bank. Last week, OKCoin, a China-based Bitcoin exchange announced that they had passed a proof of reserve audit with its reserve ration of 104.86%. This means that the exchange has 4.86% in excess of the amount it owes its customers. While this is ensuring for OKCoin customers, it may not be a good thing for Bitcoin if you treat it as an economy system.
后来,呼吁交易所100%储备的声音越来越大。作为反应,一种密码学的证明被引用,可以证明交易所有作为比特币银行的能力。上周,一个中国比特币交易所okcoin,宣布他们通过审计拥有104.86%的储备。这意味着交易所持有的资金比客户总存储的多4.86%。这个对交易所的诚信是个好消息,但是作为一个经济系统,可能不一定是好事儿。
The benefit of fractional reserve banking is that it has positive effect on the economy by allowing banks to extend credit to people who are in need of it, provided the borrowers agree to pay back with an interest. In the Bitcoin world, such activities are rather discouraged. On one hand, the exchanges, which serve like banks in the sense that they are both custodians under obligation to safekeep customers’ assets, have to let all the coins sleeping in wallets in order to stay 100% solvent; on the other hand, market demand for coins in the market goes unmet.
部分储备系统对经济的促进作用在于,当用户承诺偿还利息的情况下,它允许银行授权于用户信用额,在比特币世界,这个动作非常不好,一方面,某种意义上类似银行的交易所必须有替用户安全保留所有比特币义务,这导致比特币必须在钱包里不动,另一方面市场对比特币流通的需求不能被满足。A good solution for the problem at hand would be for the entire industry to agree to a certain reserve ratio, say 80%. This would cap the maximum risk, while giving the exchanges certain flexibility to engage in lending activity – one obvious benefit will be speeding up the circulation and increasing liquidity. Given that not all users have the same risk tolerance, they should be allowed to either opt for a zero-interest but full reserve account, or a fractional reserve but interest bearing one.
目前,针对这个问题,一个好的方案是整个行业同意部分储备率,比如80%。这个可以抵抗大量风险同时让交易所可以有借币的弹性。一个明显的优势是,这个会加速流通性。根据用户承受能力不一样,他们可以选择零利率的100%储备,或者带利率的部分储备。An exchange with 80 percent reserve ration should be well equipped to handle most except the most extreme situations. However, in case the worst-case scenario strikes, then there should be a central bank-like institution to step in, with the purpose being allowing customers of the exchange to at least recoup a significant portion of their investment. This is not to say that the exchanges would go unpunished despite their screw-ups; on the contrary, they should be punished severely and justly, depending on gravity of their wrongdoings. The penalties can be a fine or getting delisted from the list of recommended exchanges. All this should be decided by a penal that is fully representative of the incumbent exchanges as well as users. Although the Bitcoin central bank can’t create infinite amount of bit coins like the US Federal Reserve, it can at least play a role as a coordinator and guarantor to enable the exchange in trouble to get the much-needed funds to survive the crisis of life or death. The benefit of such an institution would be softening the impact of a Gox-magnitude meltdown on the entire ecosystem and maintain public’s confidence in the burgeoning currency.
80%的储备率对于一个交易所来说已经可以比较安全的抵抗风险了。不管怎样,如果发生非常严重的问题。应该有个中央银行介入。这样用户才有办法要求交易所哪怕偿还大部分投资。不是说交易所出事儿了就不用被惩罚,应该根据他们所犯下的错误公正的的严肃的被惩罚。惩罚可以为罚款或者被从推荐列表取消。这些应该被一个具有代表性的交易所和用户执行。虽然比特币的中央银行不能像美联储一样无穷的发行货币,它至少在交易所需要资金来处理严重问题或者快不行的时候,扮演协调和担保的角色。这样一个机构将会缓冲类似MT.Gox倒闭级别事件对整个生态圈的影响,并维护公众对这个新兴货币的信心。原文:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericxlmu/2014/08/24/why-there-should-be-a-bitcoin-central-bank/中文区多点这种讨论,多好啊!