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November 5, by all accounts, is set to be America’s first “crypto election”. Hundreds of millions of real dollars have poured into pro-crypto political action committees. Kamala Harris has talked about encouraging “innovative technologies”. Donald Trump, her rival for the presidency, has decided that bitcoin isn’t “a scam” after all, embarked on a series of crypto ventures and promises to make America “the crypto capital of the planet”.
据各方说法,11月5日将成为美国的首次“加密选举”。数亿美元的真金白银已经流入支持加密货币的政治行动委员会。卡玛拉•哈里斯(Kamala Harris)谈到了鼓励“创新技术”。她的总统竞选对手唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)决定比特币并非“骗局”,并开始了一系列加密货币项目,承诺将美国打造成“全球加密资本”。
“The crypto voter is real, bipartisan and ready to engage this cycle,” the executive director of lobby group Stand With Crypto, founded and funded by America’s biggest crypto exchange Coinbase, enthused last week. (The group gives politicians grades for their crypto stance, and Trump — unusually — gets an A.)
上周,由美国最大的加密货币交易所Coinbase创立和资助的游说团体Stand With Crypto的执行董事热情地表示:“加密货币选民是真实存在的,具有两党性质,并且准备在这个周期中参与。”(该团体为政治家们的加密货币立场评分,而特朗普——不同寻常地——得到了A级评分。)
But reader, I must level with you right off the BAT (a digital token): the crypto voter is not, in any substantive sense, real. Aside from the small group of men (OK, mainly men) whose livelihoods now depend on this digitally indigenous fluff, most Americans have rather bigger things to worry about — food prices, healthcare, the jobs market, or the general state of their nation, maybe.
但是,读者,我必须一开始就坦率地告诉你:从任何实质意义上来说,加密货币选民并不是真实存在的。除了那小部分现在生计依赖于这种数字原生绒毛的男性之外,大多数美国人有更重要的事情要担心——食品价格、医疗保健、就业市场,或者他们国家的总体状况。
The idea, therefore, that there is a “constituency” of crypto voters needing to be pandered to, whose top issue is making sure that exchanges and other companies aren’t too heavily regulated, is fanciful. And yet that is the narrative being pushed by the industry, along with some creatively interpreted statistics.
因此,认为存在一个需要迎合的加密货币选民“选区”,他们最关心的问题是确保交易所和其他公司不受过重监管,这种想法是天方夜谭。然而,这正是该行业所推动的叙述,还有一些经过创造性解释的统计数据。
“Crypto is a national priority . . . 52mn Americans own crypto and want their voices to be heard in the upcoming elections,” claims Stand With Crypto (the 52mn is certainly contested). “Nearly nine in ten Americans believe the financial system is overdue for an update. Yet, US policymakers seem content on maintaining the status quo, rather than fulfilling their responsibilities.”
“加密货币是国家的优先事项……5200万美国人拥有加密货币,并希望在即将到来的选举中发出自己的声音,”Stand With Crypto声称(5200万的数字当然有争议)。“近九成美国人认为金融体系早该更新。然而,美国政策制定者似乎满足于维持现状,而不是履行他们的责任。”
This, presumably, means making sure people like multibillionaire Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong can continue to get richer. Because if it’s really the crypto owners being considered here, they are doing just fine, thanks (or the ones lucky enough to choose an exchange that didn’t steal it all, anyway).
这大概意味着要确保像亿万富翁Coinbase首席执行官布莱恩•阿姆斯特朗(Brian Armstrong)这样的人能够继续变得更富有。因为如果真的是在考虑加密货币持有者,他们过得很好,谢谢(或者那些幸运地选择了一个没有偷走所有资产的交易所的人)。
Despite the Biden-Harris administration being “very hostile” to crypto, according to Trump — “extremely hostile, like nobody can believe” — bitcoin has more than quadrupled in price since the 2020 election, reaching a record high earlier this year. The estimated value of the entire crypto market has almost sextupled. If it’s US jobs we’re talking about, industry figures show almost a third of the world’s crypto workforce is based in the US.
尽管特朗普表示拜登-哈里斯政府对加密货币“非常敌对”,就像没有人能相信的那样,但自2020年选举以来,比特币的价格已经增长了四倍以上,今年早些时候达到了创纪录的高点。整个加密货币市场的估值几乎增长了六倍。如果我们谈论的是美国的就业岗位,行业数据显示全球近三分之一的加密货币从业人员都在美国。
Crypto is also responsible for almost half of all corporate spending on the election so far, with the pro-crypto Fairshake super Pac having raised more than $200mn alone.
到目前为止,加密货币几乎占了所有企业选举支出的一半,支持加密货币的Fairshake超级PAC单独筹集了超过2亿美元。
But while the fact that there is a huge amount of both crypto money and crypto rhetoric in this campaign is in no doubt, does either candidate really care? Let’s look at Harris’s own words. Until recently, there were none. But last Sunday at a Wall Street fundraiser, she finally said: “We will encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets, while protecting our consumers and investors.”
然而,虽然毫无疑问这场竞选中存在大量的加密货币和加密货币言辞,但两位候选人真的在意吗?让我们来看看哈里斯自己的话。直到最近,她没有发表任何言论。但上周日在一次华尔街筹款活动上,她终于说道:“我们将鼓励人工智能和数字资产等创新技术,同时保护我们的消费者和投资者。”
For all those getting excited about her sudden conversion — Stand With Crypto even graded her a B, for being “somewhat pro-crypto”, before downgrading after a backlash — let me make clear my own thoughts: Harris couldn’t give a flying Satoshi. She has promised nothing at all. Her comments were designed not to alienate the tech world by coming across as heavy-handed while keeping those who favour stronger regulation on side.
对于那些对她突然转变感到兴奋的人——Stand With Crypto甚至给她打了个B的分数,称她“有点亲加密货币”,然后在遭到强烈反对后降低了评分——让我明确表达我的想法:哈里斯对中本聪毫不在乎。她没有做出任何承诺。她的评论旨在避免以高压手段让科技界感到疏远,同时保持那些支持更严格监管的人的立场。
Trump has sold four collections of NFTs, and generously offers Americans the “chance to contribute to the campaign with cryptocurrency”. But if you think his interest goes beyond his own prospects, you too should brace for disappointment. He might be lauded by Coinbase’s chief policy officer for his “concrete and visionary positions” but he doesn’t seem to take the whole thing very seriously. “Have a good time with your bitcoin and your crypto, and everything else that you’re playing with,” he told July’s bitcoin 2024 conference.
特朗普已经出售了四个NFT系列,并慷慨地向美国人提供“用加密货币为竞选活动做出贡献的机会”。但如果你认为他的兴趣超出了自己的前景,你也应该做好失望的准备。Coinbase的首席政策官可能会称赞他的“具体而有远见的立场”,但他似乎并没有非常认真对待整个事情。他在7月的比特币2024年会议上说:“祝你在比特币和加密货币以及其他你玩弄的东西上玩得开心。”
Neither does Trump display much understanding — which, to be fair, he at least owns up to. At the launch of his and his sons’ latest foray into crypto, World Liberty Financial, he compared it to learning Chinese. What the company will do remains unclear.
特朗普并没有展示出太多的理解力,这一点他至少承认了。在他和他儿子最新涉足的加密领域项目全球自由金融(World Liberty Financial)的发布会上,他将其比作学习中文。该公司将要做什么仍然不清楚。
Still, at least the venture’s “DeFi visionary” seems to get it. “Barron knows so much about this,” the former president said of his 18-year-old son. “He talks about his wallet. He’s got four wallets or something, but he knows this stuff.” Remember remember the fifth of November. Cluelessness, claptrap and grift.
然而,至少这个风险投资的“DeFi先知”似乎明白这一点。“巴伦对此了解很多,”这位前总统说道,提到他18岁的儿子。“他谈论他的钱包。他有四个钱包之类的,但他确实懂这些东西。”记住,记住11月5日。无知、废话和欺诈。