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《经济学人》双语：《货币的未来》解释了金融业正在发生巨大变化

时间：2023-02-06

然而，现金屈从于金融数字化和新的支付方式，中央银行在不失去控制的情况下接受变革

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《经济学人》双语：《货币的未来》解释了金融业正在发生怎样的巨大变化

文/Irene-自由英语之路

【本篇内容简述】

【Para1】引入：金钱的意义，私人货币与政府发行的钞票竞争。然而，现金屈从于金融数字化和新的支付方式，中央银行在不失去控制的情况下接受变革。

【Para2】历史与预测：第一次“金融科技”是几百年前中国用纸币取代金属货币。可能在十年或二十年内，现金的终结是革命性的。

【Para3&4&5】三种创新媒介：金融科技公司，比特币等数字货币，央行开发自己的数字货币。各有利弊。

【Para6】作者的观点：倾向于公开解决方案，央行可能削弱它们的独立性，央行也应该而且将继续是金融的核心。

【Para7】结尾：本书探讨了这场剧变的经济和社会影响，形成了这一最抽象的概念。

标题：

The end of cash

Kill bills

现金的终结

杀死比尔

A farewell to cash

Finance is changing dramatically. A new book explains how

“The Future of Money” asks whether central banks can adapt to hold the ring

告别现金

一本新书解释了金融业是如何发生巨大变化的

《货币的未来》问各国央行是否不干涉

Paragraph 1：

FOR MOST people, money still means physical cash printed by a sole, public authority. Yet that is a surprisingly modern incarnation: only a century ago, private currencies competed with government-issued banknotes.

对大多数人来说，金钱仍然意味着由唯一的公共机构印制的实物现金。然而，这是一个令人惊讶的现代化身：就在一个世纪前，私人货币与政府发行的钞票竞争。

It may be short-lived, too, as cash succumbs to the digitalisation of finance and new means of payment take over. This big bang will have huge implications for states, people and companies.

它也可能是短暂的，因为现金屈从于金融数字化和新的支付方式。这次大爆炸将对国家、人民和公司产生巨大影响。

Whether it does more good than harm, says Eswar Prasad, depends on the world’s dowdiest institutions—central banks—embracing change without losing control.

埃斯瓦尔·普拉萨德说，它是否利大于弊取决于世界上最落后的机构——中央银行在不失去控制的情况下接受变革。

Paragraph 2:

That cash is declining may not surprise readers. Many will bank from laptops and make payments on their phones. Financial innovation is old news, too.

现金的减少可能不会让读者感到惊讶。许多人通过笔记本电脑将钱存入银行，并通过手机付款。金融创新也是老生常谈。

One of the first “fintech” breakthroughs happened centuries ago, when China helped engineer a boom in Asian commerce by introducing paper currency to replace metal coins, which were heavy and scarce.

第一次“金融科技”突破之一发生在几个世纪前，当时中国通过引入纸币来取代金属货币（既重又稀有），这帮助推动了亚洲商业的繁荣。

Yet this time is different, Mr Prasad insists. Previous overhauls mainly improved existing systems, he notes. The end of cash—likely within a decade or two—is revolutionary.

但普拉萨德坚持认为，这一次不同了。他指出，以前的大修主要改进了现有系统。可能在十年或二十年内，现金的终结是革命性的。

Paragraph 3:

Three types of disruptive agents are involved, he says. The first are fintech firms, a varied group that all have a big online presence and a knack for crunching data.

他说，其中涉及三种创新媒介。第一类是金融科技公司，这是一个多元化的集团，它们都拥有强大的在线影响力和处理数据的诀窍。

Their onslaught differs from previous, isolated breakthroughs—such as the debit card or the ATM—because it targets every facet of financial markets and institutions, from lending and payments to investment.

他们的攻势不同于以往的孤立突破，如借记卡或ATM机，因为它针对金融市场和机构的方方面面，从贷款和支付到投资。

By expanding the market for financial services, they help to democratise them. All the same, they are not imposing regimechange. Banks remain dominant.

通过扩大金融服务市场，它们有助于实现金融服务的民主化。尽管如此，他们并没有强制实行政权更迭。银行仍然占主导地位。

Paragraph 4:

Bitcoin, and the many other digital monies it has inspired, could bring about a more fundamental shift. By enlisting a network of users to validate transactions, they make payments possible without the need for a trusted, central authority.

比特币以及它所激发的许多其他数字货币可能带来更根本的转变。通过征募一个用户网络来验证交易，他们使支付成为可能，而不需要一个可信的中央机构。

Mr Prasad doubts decentralised money—less safe, stable and efficient—will ever trump its official cousin.

普拉萨德怀疑，分散的资金如果不那么安全、稳定和高效，将永远胜过它的官方表亲。

But he warns that the technology involved is being co-opted by big corporations, such as Facebook; with their billions of users and financial clout, they could make private currencies an attractive means of exchange and store of value.

但他警告说，所涉及的技术正被大公司所采用，比如Facebook；凭借其数十亿用户和金融影响力，它们可以使私人货币成为一种有吸引力的交换和价值储存手段。

Paragraph 5:

Fearing this could do them out of a job, many central banks are beginning to disrupt themselves by developing their own digital currencies—the third and most important shock.

由于担心这会使他们失业，许多央行开始通过开发自己的数字货币来扰乱——这是第三次也是最重要的冲击。

Done well, these “CBDCs” will upgrade the financial system. More efficient than cash for settling transactions, they could also provide a backstop to digital-payment systems managed by private firms, should those fail.

如果做得好，这些“CBDC”将升级金融系统。在结算交易方面，它们比现金更有效，如果私人公司管理的数字支付系统失败，它们还可以为其提供支持。

They could offer “unbanked” communities access to digital payments and other financial products. And they may let central bankers experiment with new monetary-policy tools and more easily track illicit transactions.

他们可以让“无银行”社区获得数字支付和其他金融产品。他们还可以让央行银行家们尝试新的货币政策工具，更容易追踪非法交易。

Paragraph 6:

Formerly at the IMF, Mr Prasad might have been expected to favour public solutions. Even if the pendulum swings back towards the private sector, he reckons central banks should and will remain at the heart of finance.

以前在国际货币基金组织工作的普拉萨德可能会倾向于公开解决方案。他认为，即使人们对货币的态度摆向私人公司，央行也应该而且将继续是金融的核心。

But a strength of his analysis is his mastery of both technical details and big-picture trade-offs. He fears CBDCs may be vulnerable to hacking and bugs; they could crush private innovation and cause the instability they are meant to forestall.

但他分析的一个优势在于他对技术细节和全局权衡的精通。他担心CBDC可能容易受到黑客和漏洞的攻击；它们可能会扼杀私人创新，造成它们本应阻止的不稳定性因素影响。

Meanwhile, central banks’ new responsibilities may erode their independence. The privacy of transactions will be lost. Practising the balance he advocates, Mr Prasad is enthusiastic but nuanced.

与此同时，央行的新职责可能会削弱它们的独立性。交易的隐私将丢失。普拉萨德先生在实践他所倡导的平衡时，热情高涨，但也有细微差别。

Paragraph 7:

He also manages to make the financial system intelligible and interesting without resorting to shortcuts and exaggeration.

他还设法使金融系统变得易懂和有趣，而不必缩小切短和夸大其词。

His patient description of how it works, peppered with well-researched examples and personal anecdotes, imposes a cosmic order on the constellation of institutions that determine how money flows.

他耐心地描述了它是如何运作的，加上精心研究的例子和个人轶事，使决定资金如何流动的各种机构形成了一种宇宙秩序。

As it loses physical form, money’s meaning will become ever harder to grasp. This book explores the economic and social effects of that upheaval, giving shape to this most abstract of concepts.

当货币失去了物理形态，金钱的意义将变得越来越难以理解。本书探讨了这场剧变的经济和社会影响，形成了这一最抽象的概念。

The Future of Money. By Eswar Prasad. Belknap Press; 496 pages

《金钱的未来》埃斯瓦尔·普拉萨德，贝尔纳普出版社；496页

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量645个左右）

原文出自2021年10月2日《The Economist》Books & arts版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路，仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【重点词汇】（9个）

hold the ring

观战并阻止别人干涉；不介入冲突

dowdy /dad/

adj. 懒散的；过时的；寒酸的

knack/nk/