比特幣熱何時蔓延到消費者

Since it’s inception five years ago, bitcoin hype has spread across the globe. “Bitcoin accepted here” stickers have popped up in restaurants and stores. It’s even made it to Twin Mountain Country Store, a convenience store and deli in a remote corner of New Hampshire. But customers aren’t exactly flocking to pay with the digital currency.

從五年前問世到現在，比特幣熱已經席捲全球。餐館和商店開始悄然出現“本店接受比特幣”的標示，甚至在新罕布什爾州偏僻的便利熟食店裏都能看到。不過，對使用比特幣支付趨之若鶩的消費者卻未曾出現。

Twin Mountain’s owner Bill Bochynski said he only sees about two bitcoin transactions a month in the $20 range. He said he started accepting bitcoin because someone came into the shop and wanted to pay with it, so he did some reading and set up a digital wallet to accept it.

新罕布什爾州熟食店Twin Mountain Country Store（TMCS）店主比爾o波欽斯基說，他每個月只會見到大約兩筆20多美元的比特幣交易。TMCS開始接受比特幣是因爲曾有位顧客進店要求用比特幣付款，於是比爾讀了一些資料，然後建立了一個用於收款的電子錢包。

“The number of people who want to pay with bitcoin is in the onesies and twosies,” he said. “It’s extremely technical and geeky.”

他表示：“想用比特幣付款的顧客少之又少。這東西技術屬性太強。”

Despite the buzz, relatively few shoppers use bitcoin when buying from retailers that accept it. At least for now, the currency is more of a curiosity than a true rival to cash and credit cards.

儘管是個熱門話題，但只有很少的購物者使用比特幣在零售商那裏進行付款。至少到目前爲止，比特幣更多地是一種新奇玩意兒，而非現金和信用卡的真正競爭者。

In October, there were about 70,000-80,000 bitcoin transactions a day according to , or about double from two years ago. But the numbers are minuscule compared with the 26 billion card transactions that occur each year according to a 2013 study by the Federal Reserve Bank.

來自比特幣信息網站的數據顯示，今年10月份，比特幣日交易數量爲7-8萬筆，和兩年前相比大約翻了一番。但美聯儲（Federal Reserve）2013年的研究顯示，每年的銀行卡交易數量爲260億筆。和後者相比，比特幣交易微不足道。

Part of the reason why transaction volumes remain so low is bitcoin is very much the realm of the technorati. Created by a developer using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin is an encrypted code exchanged between two people. To create bitcoins, people must solve complex math problems. Anyone using the digital currency can remain anonymous as long as they don’t deliberately reveal their names.

比特幣交易量如此之低，部分原因在於它屬於高度技術範疇。比特幣由化名中本聰的開發者締造，是在兩個人之間進行交換的一組加密代碼。要製造比特幣，就必須解開復雜的數學算式。只要不故意透露姓名，任何人都能一直在匿名狀態下使用比特幣。

On the upside, this means bitcoin is harder to steal, and can be transferred instantaneously. On the downside the value fluctuates wildly (as of early November 2014 one bitcoin was valued at about $420, but a week earlier it was $330), making users reluctant to keep it. Plus, key point, there aren’t many places where you can spend bitcoin.

有利的一面是，這意味着盜竊比特幣很困難，而且比特幣可以瞬間完成轉賬。不利的一面是，比特幣的價值波動很劇烈（今年11月初，一枚比特幣的價值約爲420美元，而一週前這個數字是330美元），這造成用戶不願意持有比特幣。更關鍵的一點在於能用比特幣消費的場所並不是很多。

More retailers are starting to accept digital currency. The exact numbers aren’t entirely clear, but services like Coinbase and BitPay that help merchants convert bitcoins into dollars provide a window. Coinbase said it has 36,000 merchants signed up and that those ranks grow 10% growth monthly. Bitpay said it has over 40,000 merchants, or quadruple from the start of the year.

更多的零售商開始接受比特幣。雖然具體數量並不十分明確，但Coinbase和BitPay等服務商幫助商家把比特幣兌換成美元，從而爲比特幣消費打開了一扇窗口。Coinbase表示，該公司已經和3.6萬戶商家簽約，而且這個數字正以每個月10%的速度遞增。BitPay稱，該公司的簽約商家已經超過4萬戶，是今年初的四倍。

According to BitPay merchants who favor bitcoin tend to be enthusiasts or merchants who sell high-ticket items like TVs or non-refundable items like travel. Stephanie Wargo, vice president of marketing at BitPay explains the appeal. “If you buy a large ticket item, you want to make sure your information is safe and secure,” she said. “And from a merchant standpoint it’s not effective to accept cards for small ticket items. Fees eat into your profits.”

據BitPay介紹，青睞比特幣的商家往往熱衷此道，或者銷售的是電視等大宗消費品以及旅遊等不可退款的產品。該公司營銷副總裁斯蒂芬妮o沃戈解釋了比特幣吸引人的原因：“如果買的是大宗消費品，人們會希望確保自己的信息安全而且保密。從商家角度而言，小額交易接受銀行卡缺乏效率。手續費會侵蝕利潤。”

Despite Wargo’s enthusiasm, small retailers that accept bitcoin often only get a few transactions a month with the currency. Bill Finley started accepting bitcoin last October at his clothing store Hemp & Company in Vancouver, and gets about three bitcoin sales a month, he said. But he gave the low sales numbers a positive spin.

儘管沃戈熱情滿滿，但接受比特幣的小型零售商每個月只會碰到幾次比特幣交易。比爾o芬利在溫哥華開的服裝店Hemp & Company去年10月份開始接受比特幣。他說，比特幣消費每個月大概會出現三次。儘管銷售額較少，但芬利對此仍保持積極態度。

“Most of these sales are because customers want to spend their bitcoin and searched us out,” Finley said. “We’re reaching a demographic we probably never would have.”

芬利認爲：“大多數購物者用比特幣消費的原因是他們想把比特幣花出去，他們通過搜索找到了我們。現在我們接觸到的這批消費者以前也許永遠也不會成爲我們的顧客。”儘管同一社區的其他商家沒有加入接受比特幣的行列，但芬利覺得比特幣的未來充滿希望。他說：“這種技術絕對不會消失。”

Finley remains hopeful about the future of bitcoin, despite the fact that merchants in his community aren’t joining in. “It’s a technology that isn’t going to go away,” he said.

比特幣熱並不僅限於小型零售商。一些大型零售企業也開始爲了接受比特幣而進行投資。它們的理由是支付技術必將出現變化，而它們希望走在最前面。

The hype isn’t limited to small retailers. Some larger retailers have made the investment to start accepting bitcoin too. They reason that payment technologies will change and they want to be at the forefront.

在線電子零售商新蛋（Newegg）從7月份開始接受比特幣。該公司稱，這麼做是因爲自己的客戶羣體中有很多技術人員。新蛋首席營銷官索倫o米爾斯表示：“我們是技術先鋒，我們的客戶羣體也是如此，我們希望給他們帶來一些支付技術上的創新。”

Online electronics retailer Newegg, which started accepting bitcoin in July, said it did so because its client base is full of techies. “We are tech forward, our customer base is that way, we want to bring them that kind of innovation in payment technology as well,” said Soren Mills, the company’s chief marketing officer.

儘管沒有透露比特幣交易數量，新蛋稱，這個數字較小，不過正在增長。這部分顧客購買的往往是能用來解開數學算式賺取比特幣的商品，比如顯卡，主板和硬盤。米爾斯說：“比特幣給我們帶來了一些新顧客。這個羣體真的很重要。”

Newegg wouldn’t disclose number of transactions, but said the numbers are small but growing. Purchases tend to be for products that support solving the math problems that earn bitcoins: graphic cards, motherboards, hard drives. “We’ve doubled our run-rate over the last three months,” Mills said. “Bitcoin has brought us some new customers. It’s got a group of people that it’s really important to.”

另一家在線零售商從今年1月份開始接受比特幣。在隨後的七個星期裏，該公司完成了逾100萬美元的比特幣交易。首席執行官帕特里克o伯恩預計，今年全年將出現2.5萬次比特幣消費，總交易額將達到600萬美元。不過，這隻佔全年收入的0.25%。

, another online retailer, started accepting bitcoin in January 2014. Within the first seven weeks, it had over $1 million in transactions with the currency. CEO Patrick Byrne expects to close the year with 25,000 transactions totaling $6 million – but that’s only .25% of the company’s annual revenue.

伯恩說：“我意識到（市場）對比特幣存在迫切需求，我也希望能從這個市場中分一杯羹。我這個人支持限制政府。我不喜歡任何形式的壟斷，包括政府對貨幣的壟斷。”

“I realized there was a hunger for bitcoin, I wanted to get a slice of that market,” said Byrne. “I’m a limited government guy. I don’t like monopolies of any kind including the monopoly government has over money.”

他認爲比特幣帶來的機會遠不止零售交易。上個月伯恩公佈了一項計劃，內容是用比特幣技術建立分散的證券交易所。這項使比特幣在人與人之間進行劃轉的技術從理論上來說，將使得人們可以在避開政府監管的情況下完成股票買賣。

Byrne’s sees bitcoin as opening the doors far beyond retail transactions. Last month, he disclosed plans to use bitcoin’s technology to create a decentralized stock exchange. The technology that is responsible for transferring bitcoin from one person to another will let people transfer company shares to each other, bypassing government regulators – at least in theory.

伯恩對比特幣的熱情直接觸及到了比特幣熱的核心。熱衷者並不是爲比特幣本身感到興奮。他們也知道比特幣不好用，而且也不便於操作。而讓他們興奮的是比特幣所展現出的可能性。斯蒂芬妮加入BitPay的原因是她認爲，對希望向海外匯款時不繳納任何手續費的人來說，比特幣是個完美的解決方案。Hemp & Company的比爾o芬利則相信比特幣就像電子郵件，最初的表現很粗糙，但它會存在下去。

Byrne’s enthusiasm drives straight to the heart of the bitcoin frenzy. Enthusiasts aren’t excited about bitcoin for it’s own sake. They agree it’s clunky and not particularly user-friendly. Rather they are excited by the possibilities it presents. Stephanie Wargo joined BitPay because she saw bitcoin as the perfect solution for people who want to send remittance abroad without any fees. Billy Finley from Hemp & Company believes bitcoin is akin to email: the first iterations were rough, but now it’s here to stay.

而對於新罕布什爾州的便利店主波欽斯來說，他並非真正的比特幣愛好者，在他看來比特幣是一種玩具。但比特幣改變了人們對貨幣的理解，這種吸引力讓他無法抗拒。他說：“比特幣交易也許幾個月都不會出現一次，但它正在挑戰現狀。”（財富中文網）