这个问世刚四年的虚拟货币一度被视为浅薄的时髦小玩意儿，只有不法分子和贩毒人员才用。但最近几周，它却获得了来自各方的全新信任，而它在中国的表现尤其抢眼。不过，它本质上还是一个全球范围内的货币试验，它的未来依然存在不确定性。
比特币终于迎来了走向成熟的盛大仪式。这个年方四岁的虚拟货币一度被视为浅薄的时髦小玩意儿，只有不法分子和贩毒人员才用。但最近几周，它却获得了来自各方的全新信任。美国和中国的投资者越来越有把握，这种替代性货币将来给普通消费者带来好处。
美国国会首次就这种货币工具召开听证会，高层执法机构和官员阐明了虚拟货币的好处之后，本周一，比特币的价值蹿上新高，达到700美元（随后又在一夜之间涨到了900美元）。
首席检察官助理麦齐利•拉曼表示，虚拟货币是合法的，而且“有潜力推动更多有效的全球贸易”。尽管没有获得央行的支持，但美联储主席本•伯南克也表达了类似看法。他在一封写给参议员的信中表示，虚拟货币“长远来看可能颇有前景，尤其是如果这种创新有助于建立更迅捷、更安全和更有效的支付系统”。
就在同一天，还爆出一条新闻，全球比特币交易量最大的企业——BTC中国公司（BTC China）获得了来自机构投资者光速安振中国创业投资（Lightspeed China Partners）和光速创业投资（Lightspeed Venture Partners）500万美元的首轮融资。
这些动态表明，事情正在发生变化。就在上个月，联邦当局端掉了一个名叫“丝绸之路”的网上贩毒团伙，他们所有的交易都用比特币来完成。这个行动引发了比特币大规模抛售。这个网站被取缔之后，比特币的价格暴跌了20%。当时这种情况可能还令人难以置信，但这次打击对这种货币来说可能是大好事，因为它有助于消除比特币的阴暗面，使之更接近主流金融体系。
自从丝绸之路被端掉之后，比特币就开始迎来大幅上涨，而它是否在美国兴起其实还无关紧要。近几周来，是中国大幅推高了比特币的价格。据专门提供比特币数据的Bitcoin Charts称，现在约三分之一的比特币交易都是通过BTC China交易平台进行的，而这个平台只对中国用户开放。这家公司最近取代了位于东京的Mt. Gox公司，成为全球交易量最大的比特币交易所，公司高管表示正计划利用最新一轮融资“实现快速增长、拓展业务。”
为什么比特币对中国情有独钟？尽管中国政府一向以强势干预经济而著称，但让人有点吃惊的是，这次它并没有介入比特币市场。比特币市场一直波动剧烈，但它今年的价格已经大涨了30多倍。
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| Bitcoin has reached a rite of passage. The four-year-old virtual currency was once dismissed as something of a fad that only gangsters and drug dealers used, but in recent weeks, it has found new sources of credibility. Increasingly, investors from the U.S. to China are betting that the alternative currency could some day benefit regular consumers.
On Monday, bitcoin soared to a new high of $700 (it rose to $900 overnight), after senior law enforcement and regulatory officials highlighted the benefits of virtual currencies at the first ever congressional hearing on such monetary instruments.
Mythili Raman, acting assistant attorney general, said virtual currencies are legit and "have the potential to promote more efficient global commerce." And even though they aren't backed by a central bank, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke echoed similar sentiments, writing in a letter to senators that virtual currencies "may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system."
The same day, news broke that BTC China, the world's largest bitcoin exchange by trading volume, secured $5 million in investments from institutional investors Lightspeed China Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The developments signal a shift. Just last month, federal authorities busted an online drug ring called Silk Road, which used bitcoin for all transactions. The bust prompted a major sell off; bitcoin declined by 20% after the website was taken down. It might have been hard to believe then, but the crackdown was probably the best thing that happened for the currency. It helped clean up bitcoin's shady side, bringing it closer to the mainstream financial system.
Since the Silk Road crackdown, bitcoin has made huge gains, and whether it flourishes in the U.S. isn't really the issue. In recent weeks, China has overwhelmingly driven up the price of bitcoin. About a third of the currency's transactions now flow through the BTC China exchange, which is open only to Chinese users, according to Bitcoin Charts, which provides bitcoin data. BTC recently unseated Tokyo-based Mt. Gox as the world's largest exchange by trading volume, and executives say it plans to use its latest round of funding to "aggressively grow and expand the business."
Why the bitcoin love in China? It's surprising Beijing hasn't intervened, as the Chinese government generally keeps a heavy hand over its economy. Bitcoin is volatile, but its price has gone up more than 30-fold this year.
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上周五在新加坡举行的一个比特币会议上，BTC China副总裁杨林科向法新社（Agence France-Presse）表示，这种货币之所以在中国如此火爆，是因为中国人喜欢存钱，他们把比特币看成是存钱和投资的一种工具。在他说这番话之前几周，常被称为中国谷歌（Google）的百度公司（Baidu）开始对由其下属企业加速乐（Jiasule）提供的一些服务接受比特币。
但是大家在为比特币的未来欢欣鼓舞之前，必须指出的是 ，对比特币的大笔投资仍然是对其潜力和日益复杂的交易技术下注，它的实际用途倒在其次。专家们表示，比特币在打入主流被普通消费者接受前，还需要克服很多障碍。像WordPress和Reddit这类网站已经开始接受比特币支付，但据专门研究数字化营销的哥伦比亚大学（Columbia University）教授大卫•罗杰称，这很大程度上是全球范围内开展的一个大型货币试验。
还有一些必须考虑的风险和物流问题：由于比特币的供应多数是固定的，导致它很有可能会大规模通缩，由此就会引发囤积。换言之，随着比特币所能购买的东西数量不断增加，每个货币的价值也在增加。所以，由于每个比特币今后都能买更多东西，那消费者为什么现在要花掉它呢。这是比特币行业必须设法解决的一个大问题。
另外要让比特币真正流行起来，还需要让普通消费者放心，觉得自己的钱是安全的。消费者的比特币钱包往往是存在手机或电脑里，这些设备都可能被黑客攻破。支持比特币的人总是宣称，用比特币支付的手续费要比信用卡支付的手续费低，但普通消费者是否愿意牺牲财产的安全性来省这点交易费还要拭目以待。
不过联邦官员们正在制定虚拟货币的管理规定。比特币未来到底会如何生存？它今后多年中如何使用？这些问题至今都还悬而未决。只不过这种货币的财运现在是前所未有的一片光明。（财富中文网）
译者：清远
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| At a bticoin conference in Singapore last Friday, BTC China's vice president Linke Yang told Agence France-Presse that the currency has become big in China because its citizens are big savers and see bitcoin as a vehicle to park and invest their money. His remarks come a few weeks after Baidu (BIDU), often referred to as the Google of China, began accepting bitcoin for some services offered by its subsidiary, Jiasule.
But before anyone gets too excited, it's worth saying that any bet on bitcoin is still more of a wager on its potential and the growing sophistication of its trading technologies than its practical use. Bitcoin will have to overcome big hurdles, experts say, before it goes mainstream with average consumers. Websites like WordPress and Reddit have accepted bitcoin as payment, but it is largely one big monetary experiment being tested across the world, says David Rogers, a Columbia University professor who specializes in digital marketing.
A few risks and logistical challenges to consider: Because the supply of bitcoin is mostly fixed, it has a massive deflationary bias that encourages hoarding. In other words, as the amount of things that bitcoin can buy increases, the value of each coin increases as well. So since each coin should be able to buy more goods in the future than it can today, it's hard to see why consumers would spend bitcoin now when they can use it to buy much more at a later date. That's a big kink the bitcoin industry will need to work out.
And for bitcoin to take off, it needs to assure average consumers that their money is safe. Customers' biction wallets are typically stored in their phones or computers, which can be hacked. Proponents often claim that it costs less to process a bitcoin payment than a typical credit card payment, but it remains to be seen if average consumers are willing to give up the security of their money to save on transaction costs.
Federal regulators are developing rules for the virtual currency, however. How bitcoin will exist in the future, if at all, and what it will be used for years from now is unclear. But the currency's fortunes are looking brighter than ever.
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