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Donald Trump may have called for a strategic bitcoin reserve — but while the US president grabs headlines, other sovereigns are quietly amassing their own kitties. Bhutan, a tiny kingdom so esoteric it measures happiness the way more humdrum counties measure economic output, holds the fifth biggest national bitcoin stash.
唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)可能呼吁建立战略比特币储备——但在这位美国总统占据头条时，其他国家正在悄悄积累自己的储备。不丹，这个以衡量幸福而闻名的小王国，拥有全球第五大国家比特币储备。
Countries come by their tokens in different ways. Crime kick-started Washington’s booty. US federal law enforcement seized bitcoin when taking down the Silk Road online marketplace — assets in this case being the bitcoin buyers used to purchase drugs, arms and other contraband on the dark web. Forfeits from crime also explain the UK’s 61,000-odd bitcoin, as of the end of December.
各国通过不同的方式获得他们的代币。犯罪活动是华盛顿获得战利品的开端。美国联邦执法部门在取缔丝绸之路在线市场时查获了比特币——在这种情况下，资产是买家用来在暗网上购买毒品、武器和其他违禁品的比特币。犯罪所得的没收物也解释了截至12月底英国拥有的大约61,000个比特币。
Bhutan’s haul derives from a more wholesome source. The Himalayan kingdom mines its own coins, harnessing rivers to power the computers. There is a nice circularity to this. Exporting hydropower would be expensive and inevitably require new infrastructure, not all of which would necessarily be aesthetically pleasing. So instead Bhutan monetises the energy — turning gigawatts into money — by mining bitcoin at home. That’s helpful for a country with few wealth-generating levers at its disposal; it imports nearly everything and manufacturing is a non-starter.
不丹的收益来自一个更健康的来源。这个喜马拉雅王国通过开采自己的加密货币，利用河流为计算机供电。这形成了一个良性循环。出口水电成本高昂，并且不可避免地需要新的基础设施，而这些基础设施未必都美观。因此，不丹选择在国内开采比特币，将能源货币化——把千兆瓦转化为金钱。对于一个可供利用的财富生成手段很少的国家来说，这非常有帮助；不丹几乎所有东西都依赖进口，制造业几乎没有起步。
Britain’s holding is around five times the size of Bhutan’s, but much smaller relative to the economy. Even at bitcoin’s peak it wouldn’t cover a fortnight’s funding for the health service.
英国的持有量大约是不丹的五倍，但相对于经济规模来说要小得多。即使在比特币的高峰期，这些持有量也不足以支付医疗服务两周的资金。
Sovereigns talk up the inflationary hedge aspect of this “digital gold”. Like gold, its scarcity value theoretically protects it from inflationary pressures — although in practice bitcoin has proved too volatile to make the case.
主权国家强调这种“数字黄金”的抗通胀对冲功能。像黄金一样，其稀缺性理论上可以保护它免受通胀压力的影响——尽管实际上，比特币的波动性过大，难以证明这一点。
But there are obvious risks to states holding chunks of a highly volatile asset backed by nothing more than lines of code. Current kitty sizes may not be enough to raise hackles, but recent months have highlighted yet again just how wild this ride can be. The Trump bump pushed bitcoin past $105,000 in January but, like other assets, it has since lost ground and now sits at just over $83,000.
但是，州政府持有由仅仅是代码行支持的高度波动资产的部分存在明显风险。目前的资金规模可能不足以引起警觉，但最近几个月再次突显了这种投资的波动性。特朗普效应在1月份将比特币推高至10.5万美元，但与其他资产一样，它此后失去了部分价值，目前仅为8.3万美元。
Buyers in the wake of the coin’s Trump bump include Saudi Arabia, traders reckon. El Salvador, undeterred by the strings attached to a pending IMF bailout, continued to buy bitcoin last month.
交易者认为，受特朗普效应影响的买家包括沙特阿拉伯。尽管即将到来的国际货币基金组织(IMF)救助附带条件，萨尔瓦多(El Salvador)上个月仍继续购买比特币。
China may, or may not, have a kitty not far short of Washington’s. To a country keen to diversify away from the dollar and comfortable stockpiling everything from pork to critical minerals, a strategic bitcoin reserve might not seem outlandish. True, the token is banned in the People’s Republic, but exceptions can always be made.
中国可能拥有或可能没有一个与华盛顿相差无几的储备。对于一个热衷于摆脱美元并乐于囤积从猪肉到关键矿产的国家来说，建立战略比特币储备可能并不显得荒谬。诚然，这种代币在人民共和国是被禁止的，但总是可以有例外。
Sovereign bitcoin reserves are a relatively small phenomenon but they are probably here to stay. One reason is that old-school currency reserves are also becoming riskier. See, for instance, speculation that the US might pursue a so-called Mar-a-Lago accord to weaken the dollar. Should a new monetary system come about, that might just create a space for an alternative like bitcoin.
主权比特币储备相对来说是一个较小的现象，但它们可能会长期存在。一个原因是传统的货币储备也变得更加风险。比如，有人猜测美国可能会采取所谓的“海湖庄园协议”来削弱美元。如果出现新的货币体系，这可能会为比特币这样的替代品创造空间。
虚拟货币相关活动存在较大法律风险。请根据监管规范，注意甄别和远离非法金融活动，谨防个人财产和权益受损。