为什么比特币在中国这么红

    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        

    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.