BIS總裁：各國央行應打擊比特幣

Central banks must clamp down on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to stop them “piggybacking” on mainstream institutions and becoming a “threat to financial stability”, the head of the Bank for International Settlements has warned. 國際清算銀行(Bank for International Settlements)總裁奧古斯丁•卡斯滕斯(Agustín Carstens)警告稱，各國央行必須打擊比特幣和其他加密數(shù)字貨幣，阻止它們“依附”主流機構(gòu)，成為“金融穩(wěn)定的威脅”。

Agustín Carstens, general manager of the BIS — known as the bank for central banks because it is where they hold accounts — condemned bitcoin as “a combination of a bubble, a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster”. 國際清算銀行有“央行的央行”之稱，因為各國央行在這里設(shè)立賬戶?？ㄋ闺怪肛煴忍貛攀?ldquo;泡沫、龐氏騙局(Ponzi)和環(huán)境災難的組合”。

His comments came as growing signs of a backlash against cryptocurrencies by mainstream financial institutions contributed to another steep fall in the price of bitcoin, which means it has lost almost two-thirds of its market value in a month. 此際，越來越多的跡象表明，主流金融機構(gòu)對加密貨幣的抵觸造成比特幣價格又一次大幅下挫，使比特幣市值在一個月內(nèi)就蒸發(fā)近三分之二。

“To date, many judge that, given cryptocurrencies’ small size and limited interconnectedness, concerns about them do not rise to a systemic level,” Mr Carsten said in a speech at Goethe University in Germany yesterday. 卡斯滕斯昨日在德國歌德大學(Goethe University)的一次演講中表示：“到目前為止，很多人判斷，鑒于加密貨幣規(guī)模小且相互關(guān)聯(lián)性有限，對它們的擔憂沒有上升到系統(tǒng)水平。”

“But if authorities do not act pre-emptively, cryptocurrencies could become more interconnected with the main financial system and become a threat to financial stability.” “然而，如果政府不先發(fā)制人，加密貨幣與主要金融系統(tǒng)的關(guān)聯(lián)性可能會增強，并成為金融穩(wěn)定的威脅。”

Cryptocurrencies exploded in number and value in 2017, hitting a combined market capitalisation of $830bn in early January before a sell-off took nearly 70 per cent off that value. 去年，加密貨幣在數(shù)量和價值方面出現(xiàn)爆炸性增長，今年1月初，總計市值達到8300億美元，之后的一場拋售導致近70%的市值蒸發(fā)。

But most banks refuse to touch cryptocurrencies, which raise anti-money laundering concerns because of their anonymity. 但多數(shù)銀行拒絕觸及加密貨幣，因為其匿名性引發(fā)反洗錢擔憂。

UK lenders have even declined to provide mortgages to people who have funded their deposit by selling cryptocurrencies, which means their money cannot be traced. Many US and UK banks have also blocked customers from buying cryptocurrencies using their credit cards. 英國貸款機構(gòu)甚至拒絕向通過出售加密貨幣來存款的人提供抵押貸款，因為這意味著他們的錢不能被追查。許多美國和英國的銀行也阻止客戶使用信用卡購買加密貨幣。

However, there are already signs of the crypto-asset class permeating Wall Street, such as December’s creation of bitcoin futures contracts by two big US exchanges — the CME 然而，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)有跡象表明加密資產(chǎn)類別正在滲透華爾街，例如美國兩大交易所——芝加哥商品交易所(CME)和芝加哥期權(quán)交易所(CBOE)在去年12月創(chuàng)造了比特幣期貨合約。

and Cboe. 與此同時，投資者對加密貨幣和“首次代幣發(fā)行”(Initial Coin Offerings,簡稱ICO)的興趣激增。ICO為區(qū)塊鏈初創(chuàng)公司提供了融資，后者去年在這個幾乎完全沒有監(jiān)管的市場上籌集了超過34億美元的資金。

Meanwhile, investor interest is surging in cryptocurrencies and the initial coin offerings that finance blockchain-based start-ups, which last year raised more than $3.4bn in an almost completely unregulated market. 墨西哥央行前行長卡斯滕斯承認，世界上許多主要中央銀行都已密切關(guān)注利用區(qū)塊鏈或分布式賬本技術(shù)(DLT)改造自身業(yè)務的可能性。DLT是加密貨幣的基礎(chǔ)。

Mr Carstens, former head of Mexico’s central bank, conceded that many of the world’s main central banks had closely examined the potential to transform their own operations using blockchain, or distributed ledger technology (DLT), which underpins cryptocurrencies. 但他表示：“實際上，中央銀行的實驗表明，基于DLT的系統(tǒng)運行起來成本非常高，速度比傳統(tǒng)的支付結(jié)算系統(tǒng)慢，效率也低得多。”

But he said: “In practice, central bank experiments show that DLT-based systems are very expensive to run and slower and much less efficient to operate than conventional payment and settlement systems.” 譯者/何黎