評論
打印
If the project lives up to the mock-ups, buying, selling, holding, sending and receiving Libras will become a doddle. It can be done in Facebook’s Messenger app or WhatsApp, another messaging-servicecum-social-network it owns—and, later next year, in a stand-alone app.
如果該項目符合實物模型的要求，那么購買、出售、持有、發送和接收天秤幣將變得輕而易舉。這些功能可以在臉書的MSN應用程序或另一款臉書自己的社交網絡WhatsApp中實現，明年晚些時候，還可以在一個獨立的應用程序中實現。
So far, so familiar. Messenger already offers payments to Americans. WhatsApp is testing a similar function in India. But these services do not cross borders, and require users to have a bank account. Fintech firms like TransferWise, which offer international transfers, take a 4-5% cut to wire $200, a third less than Western Union. But Libra will be much cheaper, and require no bank accounts: more Bitcoin than Venmo.
到目前為止，一切都很熟悉。MSN已經向美國人提供支付服務。WhatsApp正在印度測試類似的功能。但這些服務不跨越國界，且要求用戶擁有銀行賬戶。像TransferWise這樣提供國際轉賬服務的金融科技公司，電匯200美元的費用減少了4-5%，比西聯匯款少了三分之一。但天秤幣會便宜得多，而且不需要銀行賬戶：比Venmo的比特幣交易額更多。
Except that, unlike Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, Libras will change hands in seconds, not minutes, for next to nothing, not a few dollars. The system should handle 1,000 transactions a second at its launch, and more later, compared with no more than seven a second for Bitcoin. The virtual coins will be bought with real money, which will top up the reserve backing the currency. This should prevent wild price swings from speculation.
不過，與比特幣和其他加密貨幣不同，天秤幣的易手時間是幾秒鐘，而不是幾分鐘。該系統啟動時每秒應處理1000筆交易，之后還會處理更多交易，而比特幣每秒的交易量不超過7筆。虛擬貨幣將用真金白銀購買，這將補充貨幣的儲備。這應該可以防止投機導致價格的劇烈波動。
If it works, Libra could be a money-spinner for Facebook, albeit not directly. Notional transaction fees would not generate much revenue. But Libras should allow Facebook to charge more for online ads, by making purchases of advertised products quicker and simpler. It could furnish a new source of data to target adverts, making up for user information Facebook will forgo with the “pivot to privacy”, which Mark Zuckerberg, its boss, proclaimed in March in respect of messaging. Facebook may catch up with WeChat, a Chinese super-app which offers payments and other services, and whose foreign ambitions are on hold as the Sino-American trade war rages on.
如果成功了，天秤幣可以成為臉書的搖錢樹，盡管不是直接的搖錢樹。但天秤幣應該會讓臉書對在線廣告收取更高的費用，方法是更快、更簡單地購買廣告產品。臉書的老板馬克•扎克伯格在今年3月宣布了“轉向隱私”戰略，由此放棄的用戶信息可以由天秤幣彌補新的數據來源。臉書可能會趕上微信，微信是提供支付和其他服務的中國超級應用程序，隨著摩擦的繼續，其海外野心被擱置。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
