纽约州政府的财务部门曾经给比特币创业公司指了两条明路：要么合法化、要么出局。今天，Coinbase 终于让比特币交易在美国的 25 个州合法化了。
The finance department of the state government in New York once gave Bitcoin two clear directions: 2013 年的辉煌岁月里，比特币一路狂飙到 1:1200 美元的高价，受到万众瞩目；而在 2014 年，它不仅价格走势低迷，比特币基金会副主席 Charlie Shrem 还因放纵非法金钱交易锒铛入狱，比特币被彭博评为年度 “表现最差” 的货币。
Bitcoin has experienced a dramatic fall in the last two years. In 2013, during the glorious months of at , Bitcoin stunned to a high price of $1,200, which was well received; in 2014, not only was it depressed prices, but Charlie Shrem, Vice-President of the Bitcoin Foundation, was also jailed for illegal money transactions. Bitcoin was rated .
今天，比特币交易平台 Coinbase 宣布将于本周一在美国启动在政府监管下的首次交易，这标志着比特币在合法化道路上走出一大步，或能真正成为传统货币交易市场的一股颠覆力量。
Today, the Bitcoin trading platform announces that the first government-supervised transaction
比特币通过高性能计算机通过解决复杂的数学问题 “开采” 出来 ，可用于在数字平台上进行货币、商品或者服务的交换。杜克大学的金融学教授 Campbell R. Harvey 认为，比特币的变化无常的特性，决定了它尤其需要在有组织的条件下交易、并取得靠谱投资机构的支持。 Bitcoin, through a high-performance computer, “exploitation” that solves complex mathematics problems, can be used to exchange money, goods or services on digital platforms. According to Campbell R. Harvey, a financial professor at Duke University, Bitcoin’s volatile character determines that it needs to be traded, especially under organized conditions, and with the support of a base investment agency. Coinbase ?是最大的比特币交易平台之一，由 Airbnb 最早期的员工之一 Brian Armstrong 创建，目前有 56 名全职员工，和拥有来自纽交所、银行、风投等 1.06 亿美元的资本支持。Coinbase 从 2012 年年底开始快速发展，目前前已经积累了 220?万个消费者钱包，38000 个商户和 7000 个应用。 Armstrong 希望个人和企业都能加入到比特币交易当中来。Coindesk 的数据表明，目前全球已有 82000 家企业接受比特币。Armstrong 说， Armstrong hopes that individuals and businesses will be able to join the Bitcoin deal. Coindisk's data show that 82,000 companies have accepted bitcoin worldwide. “我们的目标是，做全球最大的交易市场。” “Our goal is to be the largest trading market in the world.” 这里的交易包括货币、商品、服务。 Transactions here include money, goods, services. 尽管比特币在 2014 年走势不佳，但 Coinbase 在过去的一年中表现不俗。不仅在前不久获得了由 DFJ 领投、纽交所和美国汽车协会联合服务银行（USAA）和其他投资机构高达 7000 万美元的投资，还说服了一些著名零售商第一次成为比特币交易的合作伙伴，包括戴尔、Overstock、Mozilla 和 Wikipedia 等等。投资者、商户和用户的支持，表明了各方对比特币的信心。 Not only at , but Coinbase has performed well in the past year. Not only did get investments of up to US$ 70 million from DFJ, the New Exchange and the United States Automobile Association (USAA) and other investment agencies. 接受监管的比特币交易，对公司的规模、业务和财力都提出了要求。比如，纽约州的监管要求 BitLicense 申请者持有一定数额的债券或信托，而小型创业公司在到达这一阶段之前，无法预计债券规模和资本化前景，从而无法进行大规模融资。同时，监管部门还要求比特币交易公司进行昂贵的审计和安全测试，小公司也将会负担不起。接受监管还意味着，公司每一项新业务都需要经过监管部门的严格审核：如果你是一家比特币交易公司，下一步打算卖 T 恤，也必须通过监管部门的批准。 Regulated bitcoin transactions, for example, impose requirements on the size, operations, and financial resources of the company. New York State regulatory requirements require BitLicence applicants to hold a certain amount of bonds or trusts, and small start-ups cannot predict the size of the bond and the prospect of capitalization before reaching this stage, making large-scale financing impossible. 比特币和互联网早期的许多新事物一样，匿名性良好、国际化程度高，是不受政府中央集权干预的乌托邦，因此受到崇尚开放自由互联网人士推崇。而合法化的资本门槛意味着大玩家更有能力进场，小公司更有可能出局。或许，比特币野蛮生长的年代终将结束，互联网新经济的格局还是会由未来的 “大公司” 来决定。 Bitcoin, like many new things in the early days of the Internet, is well-known and highly internationalized, a utopian that is free from centralized government intervention, and is therefore admired by those who embrace open and free Internet. Legalized capital thresholds mean that larger players are more capable of entering, and smaller companies are more likely to leave. 题图来自：TechCrunch
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