Let's start with a story about this culture

我想要和各位談談貨幣的未來。

that lived in Micronesia in the early 1900s, called the Yap.

我們先從一個文化故事開始，

Now, I want to tell you about the Yap

與二十世紀初期 位於密克羅尼西亞的雅浦有關。

because their form of money is really interesting.

我想要和各位談雅浦，

They use these limestone discs called Rai stones.

是因為他們的貨幣形式很有意思。

Now, the Yap don't actually move these Rai stones around

他們用一種叫做 雅浦島石幣的石灰石圓盤。

or exchange them the way we do with our coins,

雅浦人並不會真的 把這些石幣搬來搬去，

because Rai stones can get to be pretty massive.

或是像我們彼此交換硬幣，

The largest is about four tons and 12 feet across.

因為雅浦島石幣又大又重。

So the Yap just keep track of who owns part of what stone.

最大的重達 4 噸，長12 英呎。

There's a story about these sailors

所以雅浦人只記錄石幣的所有權。

that were transporting a stone across the ocean

傳說有一群水手

when they ran into some trouble and the stone actually fell in.

要把一塊石幣運過海洋，

The sailors got back to the main island

但他們碰上麻煩，石幣落入海中。

and they told everyone what had happened.

水手們回到主島嶼後，

And everyone decided that, actually, yes,

告訴大家事情經過。

the sailors had the stone and -- why not? -- it still counted.

大家一致決定，一點也沒錯， 這些水手擁有那塊石頭，

Even though it was at the bottom of the ocean,

所以，為什麼不？它還是算數。

it was still part of the Yap economy.

雖然石幣沉到海底，

You might think that this was just a small culture

它仍屬於雅浦經濟的一部份。

a hundred years ago.

你們可能認為，

But things like this happen in the Western world as well,

這不過是個數百年前的地方文化。

and the Yap actually still use a form of these stones.

但像這樣的事也會發生在西方世界，

In 1932, the Bank of France asked the United States

且雅浦現在仍然以 某種形式使用這些石幣。

to convert their holdings from dollars into gold.

1932 年，法國的中央銀行請美國

But it was too inconvenient to think about actually shipping

把他們的股份從美元轉換成黃金。

all of that gold over to Europe.

但試想將所有的黃金運送到歐洲

So instead, someone went to where that gold was being stored

會是多麼不方便。

and they just labeled it as belonging to France now.

所以，取而代之， 有人跑去存放黃金的地方，

And everyone agreed that France owned the gold.

他們只是把黃金給標記為 「現在屬於法國」。

It's just like those Rai stones.

大家都同意法國擁有這些黃金。

The point I want to make with these two examples

這就和雅浦島的石幣一樣。

is that there's nothing inherently valuable

用這兩個例子，我想建立的論點是，

about a dollar or a stone or a coin.

美元、石頭、或硬幣本身

The only reason these things have any value

並沒有與生俱來的價值。

is because we've all decided they should.

它們會有價值的唯一原因，

And because we've decided that,

是因為我們一同賦予它們價值。

they do.

因為我們這麼決定，

Money is about the exchanges and the transactions

它們就有價值了。

that we have with each other.

貨幣的重點

Money isn't anything objective.

在於我們彼此之間的交換和交易，

It's about a collective story that we tell each other about value.

貨幣並不是客觀的。

A collective fiction.

它是人們相互認同， 有關價值的集體故事。

And that's a really powerful concept.

一個集體的虛構故事。

In the past two decades,

而這是個很強大的概念。

we've begun to use digital money.

過去二十年，

So I get paid via direct deposit,

我們開始用數位貨幣。

I pay my rent via bank transfer,

我透過電子轉帳的方式領薪，

I pay my taxes online.

我運用銀行轉帳支付房租，

And every month,

我在線上付稅款。

a small amount of money is deducted from my paycheck

每個月，

and invested in mutual funds in my retirement account.

我的薪水會有一小部份被扣除，

All of these interactions

投資到我退休帳戶的共同基金裡。

are literally just changing 1's and 0's on computers.

所有這些互動

There's not even anything physical, like a stone or a coin.

其實就只是改變 電腦上的 0 和 1 而已。

Digital money makes it so that I can pay someone around the world

沒有任何實體的東西， 比如石頭或硬幣。

in seconds.

因為有數位貨幣，

Now when this works,

我可以在幾秒鐘內 就付錢給世界各地的人。

it's because there are large institutions underwriting every 1 or 0

這方式能行得通，

that changes on a computer.

是因為有大型機構承保

And when it doesn't,

每個在電腦上改變的 1 或 0。

it's often the fault of those large institutions.

這方式出問題時，

Or at least, it's up to them to fix the problem.

通常就是這些大型機構的錯。

And a lot of times, they don't.

或至少，要由它們來解決問題。

There's a lot of friction in the system.

但很多時候，它們沒解決問題。

How long did it take the US credit card companies

在這個系統中有很多摩擦。

to implement chip and pin?

美國的信用卡公司要花多久

Half my credit cards still don't work in Europe.

才能導入密碼刷卡支付系統？

That's friction.

我有一半的信用卡 在歐洲還是不能用。

Transferring money across borders and across currencies

那就是摩擦。

is really expensive:

跨國界、跨貨幣來做轉帳

friction.

是很昂貴的：

An entrepreneur in India can set up an online business in minutes,

摩擦。

but it's hard for her to get loans and to get paid:

印度的創業家可以在幾分鐘內 架起一間線上公司，

friction.

但那公司卻很難取得貸款和營收：

Our access to digital money and our ability to freely transact

摩擦。

is being held captive by these gatekeepers.

我們使用數位貨幣與 進行自由交易的權限，

And there's a lot of impediments in the system slowing things down.

處處受到這些守門者的控制。

That's because digital money isn't really mine,

而系統中的諸多阻礙， 導致效率下降。

it's entries in databases that belong to my bank,

那是因為數位貨幣並不真的屬於我。

my credit card company or my investment firm.

它是資料庫中的記錄， 屬於我的銀行、

And these companies have the right to say "no."

我的信用卡公司或投資公司。

If I'm a PayPal merchant

這些公司有權說「不」。

and PayPal wrongly flags me for fraud,

如果我是 Paypal 商人，

that's it.

而 Paypal 誤把我標記為詐欺，

My account gets frozen, and I can't get paid.

就沒輒了。

These institutions are standing in the way of innovation.

我的帳戶會被凍結，無法領錢。

How many of you use Facebook photos, Google Photos,

這些機構阻擋了創新。

Instagram?

在座有多少人會用 臉書照片、Google 照片、

My photos are everywhere.

Instagram？

They are on my phone, they're on my laptop,

我的照片到處都是。

they're on my old phone, they're in Dropbox.

從我的手機、筆電、

They're on all these different websites and services.

舊手機，到 Dropbox。

And most of these services don't work together.

它們被放在各種 不同的網站和服務上。

They don't inter-operate.

這些服務大部份都沒有彼此合作。

And as a result,

它們不會互操作。

my photo library is a mess.

因此，

The same thing happens

我的照片收藏是一團亂。

when institutions control the money supply.

同樣的事情將一再發生，

A lot of these services don't inter-operate,

只要機構掌控了貨幣供應。

and as a result, this blocks what we can do with payment.

許多這些服務無法互操作，

And it makes transaction costs go up.

因此，造成我們付款時的不便。

So far, we've been through two phases of money.

也讓交易的成本上升。

In an analog world, we had to deal with these physical objects,

目前，我們已經經過了 貨幣的兩個階段。

and money moved at a certain speed -- the speed of humans.

在類比的世界， 我們要處理的是實體，

In a digital world, money can reach much farther and is much faster,

貨幣移動的速度固定── 即人類的速度。

but we're at the mercy of these gatekeeper institutions.

數位時代的貨幣 能更快到達更遠的地方，

Money only moves at the speed of banks.

但處在這些守門機構的擺佈下。

We're about to enter a new phase of money.

貨幣的移動速度只是銀行的速度。

The future of money is programmable.

我們即將進入貨幣的一個新階段。

When we combine software and currency,

未來的貨幣可用程式控制。

money becomes more than just a static unit of value,

當我們結合軟體和通貨，

and we don't have to rely on institutions for security.

貨幣不再只是價值的靜態單位，

In a programmable world,

我們不需因安全考量而依靠機構。

we remove humans and institutions from the loop.

在可程控的世界，

And when this happens,

我們會把人類和機構從環路中移除。

we won't even feel like we're transacting anymore.

當這情況發生時，

Money will be directed by software,

甚至感覺不到我們在交易。

and it will just safely and securely flow.

貨幣會由軟體來主導，

Cryptocurrencies are the first step of this evolution.

它將安全無慮地流動。

Cryptocurrencies are digital money

加密貨幣是這項演化的第一步。

that isn't run by any government or bank.

加密貨幣是數位貨幣，

It's money designed to work in a world without intermediaries.

不由任何政府或銀行來操作。

Bitcoin is the most ubiquitous cryptocurrency,

它被設計來運用於沒有中間人的世界。

but there are hundreds of them.

比特幣是最普遍的加密貨幣，

There's Ethereum, Litecoin, Stellar, Dogecoin,

但加密貨幣的種類達數百種。

and those are just a few of the more popular ones.

有以太坊、萊特幣、 恒星幣、多吉幣，

And these things are real money.

這些還只是比較熱門的幾種而已。

The sushi restaurant down my street

這些全是真貨幣。

takes Bitcoin.

我家街道上的壽司餐廳

I have an app on my phone that I can use to buy sashimi.

能收比特幣。

But it's not just for small transactions.

我的手機上有個應用程式， 可以用來買生魚片。

In March, there was a transaction that moved around 100,000 bitcoins.

但不只是小型交易。

That's the equivalent of 40 million US dollars.

三月時，有項價值 約十萬比特幣的交易。

Cryptocurrencies are based on a special field of mathematics

等同於四千萬美金。

called cryptography.

加密貨幣奠基於 數學的一個特別領域，

Cryptography is the study of how to secure communication,

叫做密碼學。

and it's about two really important things:

密碼學研究如何確保通訊安全，

masking information so it can be hidden in plain sight,

它的重點有兩個：

and verifying a piece of information's source.

偽裝資訊，讓資訊不會顯而易見，

Cryptography underpins so many of the systems around us.

以及驗證資訊的來源。

And it's so powerful that at times

密碼學是我們周遭許多系統的基礎。

the US government has actually classified it as a weapon.

它非常強大，

During World War II, breaking cryptosystems like Enigma

以致有時美國政府真把它歸類為武器。

was critical to decoding enemy transmissions

二次大戰時，破解 如 Enigma 這類的加密系統，

and turning the tide of the war.

是譯解敵人電報

Today, anyone with a modern web browser is running

和扭轉戰爭局勢的關鍵。

a pretty sophisticated cryptosystem.

如今，任何使用網路瀏覽器的人，

It's what we use to secure our interactions on the Internet.

都運作著相當精密的加密系統。

It's what makes it safe for us to type our passwords in

我們用它來確保安全的網路交易。

and to send financial information to websites.

它能保障我們安全地輸入密碼

So what the banks used to give us --

及金融資訊到許多網站。

trustworthy digital money transfer --

所以，以前銀行給予我們的，

we can now get with a clever application of cryptography.

「值得信賴的數位貨幣轉帳」

And this means that we don't have to rely on the banks anymore

我們現在只要用一個聰明的 密碼學應用程式就可以做到。

to secure our transactions.

這意味著，我們不再 需要仰賴銀行來確保

We can do it ourselves.

我們的交易安全了。

Bitcoin is based on the very same idea that the Yap used,

我們自己就能做到。

this collective global knowledge of transfers.

比特幣的基礎和雅浦人的 想法大同小異：

In Bitcoin, I spend by transferring Bitcoin,

對於轉帳的共同認知。

and I get paid when someone transfers Bitcoin to me.

我藉由轉帳比特幣來付款，

Imagine that we had this magic paper.

並透過他人轉入的比特幣， 來收取金錢。

So the way that this paper works is I can give you a sheet of it

想像我們有一種魔術紙。

and if you write something on it,

它運作的方式是， 我可以給你一張這種紙，

it will magically appear on my piece as well.

如果你在上面寫字，

Let's say we just give everyone this paper

它也會魔術般地出現在我的紙上。

and everyone writes down the transfers that they're doing

假設我們給了每個人這種紙，

in the Bitcoin system.

每個人把自己用比特幣做的轉帳

All of these transfers get copied around to everyone else's pieces of paper.

都紀錄下來。

And I can look at mine

所有的轉帳資訊都會 複製到其他人的紙上。

and I'll have a list of all of the transfers that are happening

當我看著我的紙時，

in the entire Bitcoin economy.

上面會出現整個比特幣經濟中

This is actually what's happening with the Bitcoin blockchain,

發生過的所有轉帳。

which is a list of all of the transactions in Bitcoin.

比特幣的區塊鏈就是這樣運作的，

Except, it's not done through paper.

它就是一長串用比特幣 進行交易的列表。

It's done through computer code,

差別是，它用的不是紙。

running on thousands of networked computers

而是電腦程式，

around the world.

運行於上千台網路電腦上，

All of these computers are collectively confirming

遍布世界各地。

who owns what Bitcoin.

所有的電腦會共同確認

So the Bitcoin blockchain is core to how Bitcoin works.

誰擁有哪些比特幣。

But where do bitcoins actually come from?

所以，比特幣區塊鏈是 比特幣運作的核心。

Well, the code is designed to create new Bitcoin

但比特幣到底是從哪裡冒出來的？

according to a schedule.

所設計的程式根據一個清單

And the way that it works is that to get those Bitcoin,

來創造新的比特幣。

I have to solve a puzzle -- a random cryptographic puzzle.

它的運作方式是這樣的： 若要得到那些比特幣，

Imagine that we had 15 dice,

我得解開一個謎題， 一個隨機的密碼謎題。

and we were throwing these dice over and over again.

想像我們有十五個骰子，

Whenever the dice come up all sixes,

我們不斷重覆投擲這些骰子。

we say that we win.

當所有骰子都出現六時，

This is very close to what these computers are all actually doing.

我們就算贏。

They're trying over and over again to land on the right number.

這些電腦運作方式，差不多就是這樣。

And when they do,

它們不斷嘗試去得到對的數字。

we say that they've solved the puzzle.

得到的時候，

The computer that solves the puzzle

它們就算是解開了謎題。

publishes its solution to the rest of the network

解開謎題的那台電腦

and collects its reward: new bitcoins.

會把它的解法公開給其餘的電腦，

And in the act of solving this puzzle,

然後領它的獎品：新的比特幣。

these computers are actually helping to secure the Bitcoin blockchain

而在解這個謎題時，

and add to the list of transactions.

這些電腦其實正在確保 比特幣區塊鏈的安全，

There are actually people all over the world running this software,

並擴增交易列表。

and we call them Bitcoin miners.

其實，世界各處都有人 在維持這套軟體運作，

Anyone can become a Bitcoin miner.

我們稱他們是比特幣礦工。

You can go download the software right now

人人都可以成為比特幣礦工。

and run it in your computer and try to collect some bitcoins.

各位現在就可以去下載這套軟體，

I can't say that I would recommend it,

並用你們的電腦來執行， 試著去領一些比特幣。

because right now, the puzzle is so hard and the network is so powerful,

我不會說我建議這麼做，

that if I tried to mine Bitcoin on my laptop,

因為目前，謎題非常難解， 且這個網路非常強大，

I probably wouldn't see any for about two million years.

如果我試著用我的筆電 來開採比特幣，

The miners, professional miners, use this special hardware

我很可能試了兩百萬年 也看不到任何成果。

that's designed to solve the puzzle really fast.

這些職業礦工，會用特別的硬體，

Now, the Bitcoin network and all of this special hardware,

針對謎題，迅速破解。

there are estimates that the amount of energy it uses

比特幣網路和所有這種特殊硬體，

is equivalent to that of a small country.

估計所消耗的能源

So, the first set of cryptocurrencies

等同一個小國家用掉的。

are a little bit slow and a little bit cumbersome.

所以，第一組加密貨幣有點慢，

But the next generation is going to be so much better and so much faster.

有點不好用。

Cryptocurrencies are the first step

但下一代就會好很多、快很多。

to a world with a global programmable money.

加密貨幣只是第一步，

And in a world with programmable money,

朝向一個全球使用 可程控貨幣的世界前進。

I can pay anyone else securely

在使用可程控貨幣的世界中，

without having to sign up or ask permission,

我可以很安全地付錢給任何人，

or do a conversion or worry about my money getting stuck.

不需要註冊，亦不需取得許可，

And I can send money around the world.

不用兌換，不用擔心取不出錢來。

This is a really amazing thing.

且我可以將錢移到世界各地。

It's the idea of permission-less innovation.

這是非常了不起的。

The Internet caused an explosion of innovation,

這是個無須許可的創新想法。

because it was built upon an open architecture.

網際網路造成了創新的爆增，

And just like the Internet changed the way we communicate,

因為它是建立在開放的結構上。

programmable money is going to change the way we pay,

就像網際網路改變了 我們溝通的方式，

allocate and decide on value.

可程控貨幣也將會改變我們付款、

So what kind of world does programmable money create?

分配、決定價值的方式。

Imagine a world where I can rent out my healthcare data

可程控貨幣會創造出怎樣的世界？