比特币进入主流需要借助技术革新

    《财富》：可消费者不仅仅是需要一种选择，对吗？他们改变自身行为不需要什么动力吗？

    奥莱尔：有时，大家已经可以看到有的公司这样告诉客户：‘如果用比特币支付，我们会给你打折。’我们认为这种方法是可行的，因为它能带动企业利润增长。考虑到可以即时结算，欺诈的风险又已经降低，商家会希望推广使用比特币。有些推广方式是打折，有些是赠送奖品，还有些别的方法。不管什么方法，我觉得都会起到宣传推广的作用。

    从消费者的立场看，除了可能带来经济实惠，使用比特币还有不少最基本的好处。其中之一是让消费者的隐私和安全都更有保障。每使用一次信用卡或者借记卡进行交易，就相当于把开启自己银行账户的钥匙交给交易方一次。我们知道，如果这样做，以后会产生很多盗窃和诈骗这样的现实问题。

    《财富》：当然，用现金也是一些人特别担心的……

    奥莱尔：没错，可正因为都是数字货币，所以我们能创造有一些吸引力的用户体验，使个人消费者之间以及个人消费者与商家之间实现即时无接触支付。电子邮件诞生以前，我们可以选择发电报和写信进行联络，后来有了新的发明，出现了更好的方式，电子邮件成为人类社会不可或缺的联系方式。我预计，十年后回首往事时，我们便会感到不可思议，诧异自己怎么还曾生活在一个收取巨额交易手续费的世界。那个世界到处都是这类信息安全的风险，我们无法借助数字技术把资金交付给世界上任何一个地方的人。

    《财富》：您会利用现有的类似Square那样的移动支付应用吗？

    奥莱尔：没错，可那样还是存在把钥匙交给别人的问题，而且结算耗时久，导致企业真正得到付款的时间推迟。

    《财富》：您提到了“无接触支付”，有家名叫Clinkle的初创企业看来正在开发这类方式，他们碰巧也从吉姆•布雷耶（风投家——译注）和Accel公司那里得到了融资。您是否和Clinkle交流过，还是说根本没有注意到他们？

    奥莱尔：我不是特别熟悉他们的业务。

    《财富》：比特币的价值还有很大的波动性，这种时候，像您的Circle这种公司能成功吗？也许可以用现金做个类比，它总体上还能保持每日的交易价值。

    奥莱尔：我认为，这就是个需要解决的紧要问题。看看现在的货币市场，我们可以发现那里有大规模的政府与机构做市商。就交易量来说，比特币的成交量非常低，因此波动性更高，流动性更差。可我觉得，大多数时候，这不过是一个新生市场的副产品，对大企业、甚至政府机构来说，只要参与进来，就能把握其中极大的经济机遇。

    《财富》：我们什么时候能在实体店里看到Circle的身影？

    奥莱尔：我们还没有宣布什么时候会推出那样的产品。

    《财富》：您已经成功地创立了另外两家公司，可他们都不必和政府监管打多少交道。不论是美国联邦政府还是州政府的监管，都没什么接触。现在您要面对联邦政府和州政府的双重监管，这样的监管是否已经让您学到了一些东西？

    奥莱尔：绝对是这样。我之所以要募集900万美元的A轮融资，原因之一就是假如要成立一家受监管的金融服务业公司，就需要大量的投资，这样才符合法律规定。我们周围有许多优秀的外部顾问。定下首席产品官的人选之后，我们首先要聘请的重量级高管就是公司的法律顾问以及首席合规官，这个职位的管理者过去要为开展银行业务的公开上市公司工作过几十年。我对招聘首席合规官这件事很慎重。（财富中文网）

    译者：若离       

    But consumers need more than just the option, right? Don't they need incentives to change behavior?

    In some cases you're already seeing businesses say, 'If you pay with Bitcoin, we're going to give you a discount.' We think that's viable, promoting higher profit margins. Merchants are going to want to promote it because of the instant settlement and diminished fraud risks. Some of that will come via discounts or rewards or some other method, but I think they'll promote it nonetheless.

    Also, on the consumer side, there are a number of fundamental benefits beyond possible economic advantage. One is that it provides consumers with greater privacy and security. Every time you make a credit card or debit card transaction, you're effectively giving the counterparty keys to your bank account. And we know that there are real subsequent issues around identity theft and fraud.

    Of course, cash also takes care of that for those who are particularly worried...

    True, but because this is all digital we can build compelling user experiences that allow for instantaneously touchless payments, for both person-to-person payments and person-to-merchant payments. Before email we could send faxes and letters, but then something new and better came along that became indispensible to society. In 10 years I think we'll look back and say we can't believe we lived in a world with enormous transaction fees and all these security risks. That we couldn't digitally send money to anyone anywhere in the world.

    You can do some of that with existing mobile payment apps like Square, right?

    Yes, but you still have the issue of the transmission of the keys. And of long settlement times that delays when businesses can actually access the money.

    You mentioned 'touchless payments.' One startup that seems to be looking at that is Clinkle, which happens to also have raised money from Jim Breyer and Accel. Have you talked to them, or looked at it at all?

    No, I'm not too familiar with what they're doing.

    Can a company like yours be successful when Bitcoin values remain so volatile? Cash may be analog, but it generally maintains its value day-to-day.

    I think it's a very important issue that needs to get settled. When you look at the existing currency markets you see large-scale government and institutional market makers. Bitcoin is very low volume in terms of trades, and therefore has a higher degree of volatility and lower liquidity. But I think most of that is a byproduct of it being a young market, and think there are tremendous economic opportunities for large institutions, or even government players, to participate.

    When will we see Circle at the local store?

    We have not announced yet when we're going to launch the product.

    You've successfully launched two other companies, but neither had to deal much with government regulation, at either the federal or state levels. Here you've got both. Has it been an education?

    Absolutely. One of the reasons I raised $9 million in a Series A is that when you're starting a regulated financial services business, it requires a significant investment to become compliant. We've surrounded ourselves with excellent outside advisors and the first key executive hire, after our CPO, was our general counsel and chief compliance officer, who has a couple of decades working with public banking companies. I take it very seriously.