据《财富》（Fortune）获得的消息，非上市公司股权交易平台SecondMarket正拆分旗下的比特币（Bitcoin）交易业务，组建一个独立的公司，而新成立的公司最终将包括一个位于纽约的比特币交易平台。而此时有消息称，由于技术故障导致用户损失超过4亿美元，全球最受欢迎的比特币交易平台之一Mount Gox或将面临倒闭。

    SecondMarket的举措仍需要在公司下周的月度董事会会议上得到正式批准，但一切都已准备就绪。SecondMarket将为新公司提供：

    • 数字货币资产管理。其中包括比特币投资信托基金，这是美国首款专门用于比特币的投资工具。它与货币交易型开放式指数基金（ETF）有些类似，于去年秋天推出。

    • 交易部门：SecondMarket有一支由11人组成的比特币交易团队，原本只是做市商，但在Gox瓦解之后，现在进行双边交易。

    • 资金：SecondMarket将为新公司提供约2000万美元的现金和比特币资产。

    可以说最重要的是交易平台本身，上周五我在一篇文章中就已经暗示过。它的目标是减少比特币的价格波动，方法是通过每日使用一次或两次现货价格（如黄金现货价格），同时承担结算公司的职能，每个交易日结束时为成员企业清算所有交易。成员也将在比特币中投入足够现金，以保持交易平台的流动性。

    SecondMarket首席执行官巴里•希尔伯特表示，他模仿的是早期的洲际交易所（ICE），他希望在3月底之前一系列创始成员到位（即“席位”模式）。预计这些成员将包括华尔街的银行以及资金雄厚的比特币初创企业（如Circle和Coinbase）。非会员企业或个人不得进行交易（至少起初如此），但可能会通过成员企业进行交易。

    希尔伯特有望成为新公司的首席执行官，新公司的股东将是成员企业以及SecondMarket的现有支持者，如FirstMark Capital以及Social+Capital Partnership。

    希尔伯特拒绝评论Mount Gox的发展状况，Mount Gox对他新建的交易平台而言既是挑战也是机遇。挑战在于，Gox的瓦解可能会导致即使最狂热的比特币爱好者都不再信任比特币。莱恩•塞尔克斯是一位比特币企业家，同时也是一位博客写手。昨晚，他就Gox的情况写了下面这段话：

    “我认为这会对比特币的存在构成威胁。很多人非常担忧，我本人也通过Coinbase出售了自己持有的所有比特币。我是一个具有风险承受能力的投资者，但我认为这将对比特币（作为一种货币以及一个新兴产业）造成灾难性的影响。”

    但是，像希尔伯特这样成熟的企业家（他的SecondMarket为Facebook这样的公司进行上市前股份交易并以因此闻名。）却是一个机遇，能够创立一个用户可以信任的比特币交易平台。问题的关键在于监督。这个新发起的交易平台目前尚未命名，将会实行自我监管。但希尔伯特认识到这个平台的未来很可能取决于纽约金融服务部。纽约金融服务部最近刚刚举行了有关比特币的听证会，而希尔伯特曾在听证会上出席作证。（财富中文网）

    SecondMarket is spinning out its Bitcoin activities into a stand-alone company that eventually will include a New York-based exchange for the cryptocurrency, Fortune has learned. The move comes just as news is breaking that one of the world's most popular Bitcoin exchanges, Mount Gox, may be shutting down after a hack that has cost its users more than $400 million.

    SecondMarket's move still needs to be formally approved during the company's monthly board meeting next week, but all of the pieces already are in place. The new company will receive from SecondMarket:

    • Digital currency asset management. This includes Bitcoin Investment Trust, the first-ever U.S. investment vehicle dedicated exclusively to Bitcoin. It sort of acts like a currency ETF, and was launched last fall.

    • Trading desk: SecondMarket has an 11-person Bitcoin trading team that originally was just a market-maker, but now is on both sides after Mt. Gox began disintegrating.

    • $$: SecondMarket will contribute approximately $20 million in cash and Bitcoin assets toward the new company.

    Arguably more important than all of this is the exchange, which I hinted at in a post last Friday. The goal would be to reduce Bitcoin price volatility, by using spot pricing once or twice per day (like gold spot pricing) and serving as a clearing company in which member firms would clear all transactions by day's end. Members also would keep enough cash in Bitcoin to keep the exchange liquid.

    SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert says that he's modeling it after the early days of The IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), and that he hopes to have a set of founding members in place by the end of March (i.e., a "seat" model). These members are expected to include Wall Street banks and well-funded Bitcoin startups (think Circle and Coinbase). Non-member firms or individuals would not be allowed to trade -- at least at the outset -- but likely could do business via the member firms.

    Silbert is expected to serve as CEO of the new company, whose shareholders will be both member firms and also existing SecondMarket backers like FirstMark Capital and Social+Capital Partnership.

    He declined to comment on the developing situation at Mount Gox, which seems to represent both a challenge and an opportunity for his new exchange. A challenge because Gox's collapse could cause even the most ardent Bitcoin enthusiasts to distrust the cryptocurrency. Ryan Selkis, a Bitcoin entrepreneur and blogger, wrote the following last night about the Gox situation:

    "I do believe that this is one of the existential threats to bitcoin that many have feared and have personally sold all of my bitcoin holdings through Coinbase. I am a risk tolerant investor, but I believe this will be catastrophic for Bitcoin, both as a currency and as a fledgling industry."

    The opportunity, however, is for an established entrepreneur like Silbert -- whose SecondMarket has been known to trade pre-IPO shares in companies like Facebook -- to create an exchange that Bitcoin users can trust. Key to this may be oversight. The exchange, which does not yet have a name, would launch as a self-regulated organization. But Silbert recognizes that its ultimate future is likely to be under the auspices of the New York Department of Financial Services, which recently held a Bitcoin hearing at which Silbert testified.