雙語閱讀 | 貨幣的歷史

接下來，了解一下貨幣的歷史

自然界的貝殼和其他物件

Some of the earliest currencies were objects from nature. A notable example is cowrie shells, first used as money about 1200 BCE. Although they may seem a pretty random choice, the shells had a number of advantages: they were similar in size, small, and durable. While the mollusks that produce the shells are found in the coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, the expansion of trade meant that even some European countries accepted cowrie shells as currency. Shells in the form of wampum (tubular shell beads) were used as money by Native Americans. Another currency from nature was whale teeth, which were used by Fijians. And the people of Yap Island (now part of Micronesia) carved huge disks of limestone that eventually became currency and remain part of the island’s culture.

一些最早的貨幣是自然界的物品。一個(gè)著名的例子是貝殼，首先用作公元前1200年的貨幣。盡管它們看起來似乎是非常隨機(jī)選擇，但它們具有許多優(yōu)點(diǎn)：它們的大小相似，體積小且耐用。盡管在印度洋和太平洋的沿海水域發(fā)現(xiàn)了產(chǎn)生貝殼的軟體動(dòng)物，但貿(mào)易的擴(kuò)展意味著甚至一些歐洲國家也將貝殼作為貨幣。美洲原住民以錢幣形式的貝殼(管狀貝殼珠)作為貨幣。美洲原住民以串珠形式的貝殼(管狀貝殼珠)作為貨幣。大自然的另一種貨幣是斐濟(jì)人使用的鯨魚牙齒。雅蒲島的居民(現(xiàn)在是密克羅尼西亞的一部分)雕刻了巨大的石灰石盤，這些巨大的石灰石盤最終成為了貨幣，并仍然是該島文化的一部分。

偽造

Counterfeiting dates to the invention of money. Even wampum was the target of counterfeiters. Forgery proved such a huge problem around the world that harsh penalties were enacted. Chinese currency from about the 14th century carried the warning that counterfeiters would be decapitated, and England was known for punishing perpetrators by burning them at the stake. In the American colonies too, death greeted early counterfeiters. Numerous measures were taken to prevent forgeries. Ben Franklin, who owned a firm that printed money for several colonies, notably misspelled Pennsylvania, believing that counterfeiters would correct the error in their forgeries. Today anti-counterfeiting measures are much more elaborate. For example, the $20 bill—the most counterfeited note in the United States—has raised printing and a watermark and security thread that are visible when the note is held to the light. However, penalties for counterfeiting have relaxed. In the United States, the maximum prison sentence is 20 years.

偽造源于金錢的發(fā)明。即使貝殼念珠也是造假者的目標(biāo)。偽造在世界范圍內(nèi)證明是個(gè)大難題，因此實(shí)施了嚴(yán)厲的刑罰。大約14世紀(jì)的中國貨幣曾警告貨幣造假者將會(huì)被斬首。英格蘭以把犯人綁在柱子上焚燒方式懲罰罪犯而聞名。在美國殖民地，早期偽造者也迎來了死亡。為了防止偽造采取了許多措施。本·富蘭克林擁有一家為多個(gè)殖民地印鈔的公司，尤其是拼錯(cuò)了賓夕法尼亞，他認(rèn)為偽造者會(huì)糾正偽造品中的錯(cuò)誤。如今，防偽措施更加詳盡。例如，面值為20美元的鈔票，是美國冒仿最多的鈔票-有凸起的印刷以及水印和防偽線，將鈔票放到光下即可看到。但是，偽造的處罰放寬了。在美國，最高刑期是20年。

硬幣

While the use of metal for money can be traced back to Babylon before 2000 BCE, standardized and certified coinage may not have existed until the 7th century BCE. According to many historians, it was during this time that the kingdom of Lydia (in present-day Turkey) issued the first regulated coins. They appeared during the reign (c. 610–c. 560 BCE) of King Alyattes and were made of electrum, a natural mixture of gold and silver. Crudely shaped like beans, these coins featured the royal symbol, a lion. Alyattes’ son, Croesus (reigned c. 560–546), reformed the kingdom’s currency, introducing silver coins and gold coins. Soon such currency began appearing elsewhere.

雖然金屬貨幣的使用可以追溯到公元前2000年之前的巴比倫，但直到公元前7世紀(jì)才可能出現(xiàn)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化和認(rèn)證的造幣。根據(jù)許多歷史學(xué)家的說法，正是在這段時(shí)間里迪亞(今天的土耳其)王國發(fā)行了第一批受管制的硬幣。 它們出現(xiàn)在國王阿里亞特斯統(tǒng)治時(shí)期(約公元前610年至560年)，由琥珀金制成，琥珀金是黃金和白銀的天然混合物。這些貨幣的形狀就像豆子，帶有獅子的皇家象征。阿里亞特斯的兒子克羅伊修斯(公元前560-546年在位)對該王國的貨幣進(jìn)行了改革，引入了銀幣和金幣。 不久，這種貨幣開始出現(xiàn)在其他地方。

皮革貨幣

About the 6th century BCE leather and animal hide began to be fashioned into currency. Early ancient Rome reportedly used this type of money. It was also found in such areas as Carthage and what is now France, and Russia is believed to have used leather money into Peter the Great’s reign (1682–1725 CE). The Chinese emperor Wudi (reigned 141–87 BCE) created currency out of skins from his personal collection of white stags. It was fringed and decorated with elaborate designs. Although no longer used, leather money may have left a lasting legacy: some believe it gave rise to the use of buck as slang fordollar.

大約在公元前6世紀(jì)，皮革和動(dòng)物皮開始流行為貨幣。據(jù)報(bào)道，早期的古羅馬使用這種類型的貨幣。它也在迦太基以及現(xiàn)在的法國等地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)，據(jù)信俄羅斯已經(jīng)將皮革錢用于彼得大帝的統(tǒng)治時(shí)期(公元1682-1725年)。 中國漢武帝(公元前141-87年在位)從他的個(gè)人收藏的白鹿皮中提取出了貨幣。它帶有流蘇并飾有精美的設(shè)計(jì)。 盡管不再使用皮革貨幣，但皮革貨幣可能會(huì)留下持久的遺產(chǎn)：一些人認(rèn)為，皮革貨幣導(dǎo)致了使用巴克 (buck 雄鹿、公羊、雄兔、雄袋鼠等雄性動(dòng)物)作為美元的俚語。

紙幣

Given that paper is widely believed to have originated in China, it is fitting that that country introduced paper currency. This innovation is widely thought to have occurred during the reign (997–1022 CE) of Emperor Zhenzong. It was made from the bark of mulberry trees (so, in a sense, money really did grow on trees). By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, paper money had spread to other parts of the world. The bulk of this currency, however, was not money in the traditional sense. Instead, it served as promissory notes—promises to pay specified amounts of gold or silver—which were key in the development of banks.

考慮到人們普遍認(rèn)為紙幣起源于中國，中國引入紙幣是合適的。 人們普遍認(rèn)為這一發(fā)明出現(xiàn)在真宗皇帝統(tǒng)治期間(公元997–1022年)。它是由桑樹的樹皮制成的(因此，從某種意義上說，金錢確實(shí)確實(shí)在樹上生長)。 到18世紀(jì)末和19世紀(jì)初，紙幣已遍及世界其他地區(qū)。但是，大部分這種貨幣不是傳統(tǒng)意義上的貨幣。相反的，它作為期票-承諾支付特定數(shù)量的黃金或白銀)-這是銀行發(fā)展的關(guān)鍵。

金本位制

Unsurprisingly, currency comes with a number of problems, one of which concerns fiat money. This is currency that is issued on the “fiat” (decree) of a sovereign government and, unlike gold and silver coins, has no intrinsic value.

不出塑料，貨幣帶來許多問題，其中就有對法定貨幣的擔(dān)心。這種貨幣是根據(jù)主權(quán)國家政府的“法令”發(fā)行的，與金幣和銀幣不同，它沒有內(nèi)在價(jià)值。

Countries can thus issue such money at will, and some did (and do), potentially making the currency worthless. This became such a problem that in 1821 the United Kingdom—then the leader in international finance—introduced the gold standard. In this monetary system, the standard unit of currency is typically kept at the value of a fixed quantity of gold, which increases confidence in international trade by preventing governments from excessively issuing currency.

因此，各國可以隨意發(fā)行這種貨幣，而有些國家(確實(shí))發(fā)行了貨幣，這可能使該貨幣變得一文不值。 這個(gè)問題變得如此嚴(yán)重，以至于在1821年，英國-當(dāng)時(shí)是國際金融的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者-引入了金本位制。 在這種貨幣體系中，貨幣的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)單位通常保持在固定數(shù)量的黃金價(jià)值上，通過防止政府過度發(fā)行貨幣來增加對國際貿(mào)易的信心。

Eventually, other countries, including Germany, France, and the United States, adopted the gold standard. However, the system had its drawbacks. Notably, it limited a country’s ability to isolate its economy from depression or inflation in the rest of the world. After the Great Depression (1929–c. 1939), countries began to rethink the gold standard, and by the 1970s gold was no longer being tied to currency.

最終，其他國家，包括德國、法國和美國采取了金本位制。然而，該體系有自己的不足。尤其是它限制一個(gè)國家將其經(jīng)濟(jì)與世界其他地區(qū)的蕭條或通脹隔離的能力。大蕭條(公元1929-1939年)之后，各國開始反思金本位制，到20世紀(jì)70年代黃金不再與貨幣掛鉤。

Since then there have been a number of extreme cases of hyperinflation. A notable case is Zimbabwe in the early 2000s, when the country issued currency in denominations as high as $100 trillion—which was worth about a loaf of bread.

從那以后，出現(xiàn)了許多極端的惡性通貨膨脹。著名的是2000年初津巴布韋的例子，當(dāng)時(shí)該國發(fā)行的貨幣面額高達(dá)100萬億-價(jià)值約是一塊面包。

信用卡

While credit has existed for ages, the first universal credit card was not introduced until 1950. That year Americans Ralph Schneider and Frank McNamara founded the Diners Club. Other cards were soon created, and in 1959 American Express debuted a plastic card.盡管信用卡已經(jīng)存在了很長時(shí)間，但知道1950年才引入了第一張通用信用卡。那一年，美國人拉爾夫·施耐德和弗蘭克·麥克納馬拉創(chuàng)立了大來俱樂部。很快便創(chuàng)建了其他卡，1959年美國運(yùn)通推出了塑料卡。

We have IBM to thank for the magnetic stripe on credit cards, which was introduced in the 1960s to contain account information. Because of the stripe, merchants no longer needed to make phone calls to obtain authorization from credit companies. In the 1990s, cards began to have chips embedded in them to encrypt their information, providing even greater security.

我們要感謝IBM的信用卡磁條，該磁條于1960年代引入，用于包含賬戶信息。 由于存在條紋，商家不再需要撥打電話來獲得信貸公司的授權(quán)。20世紀(jì)90年代，信用卡中開始嵌入芯片以對信息進(jìn)行加密，從而提供更高的安全性。

Other changes involved account balances. In the beginning, credit card users were required to pay the full balance at the end of the month. Eventually, American Express allowed consumers to carry balances—though interest was applied—and other credit companies quickly followed. Customers took advantage of this development—maybe a little too much. In 2017 American consumers were carrying $1 trillion in credit card debt.

其他更改設(shè)計(jì)帳戶余額。 首先，要求信用卡用戶在月底前支付全部余額。 最終，美國運(yùn)通(American Express)允許消費(fèi)者結(jié)余-盡管加了利息，其他信貸公司也迅速跟進(jìn)。 客戶利用了這一發(fā)展優(yōu)勢-可能太多了。 2017年，美國消費(fèi)者背負(fù)著1萬億美元的信用卡債務(wù)。

比特幣

Bitcoin is a digital currency system created in 2009 by an anonymous computer programmer or group of programmers known as Satoshi Nakamoto. The currency is not issued by a central bank and is not regulated, though a decentralized network of computers keeps track of transactions.

比特幣是由匿名計(jì)算機(jī)程序員或一組稱為Satoshi Nakamoto的程序員于2009年創(chuàng)建的數(shù)字貨幣系統(tǒng)。 盡管分散的計(jì)算機(jī)網(wǎng)絡(luò)可以跟蹤交易，但該貨幣不是由中央銀行發(fā)行的，也不受監(jiān)管。

Users of Bitcoins are anonymous, known only by their digital wallet ID. The value of Bitcoins is determined by bidding, similar to the way stocks are valued. How are Bitcoins created? In a process called mining. This involves a race between computers to solve complex math problems and thus verify blocks of transactions. While that may sound easy, it isn’t. It’s estimated that nearly seven trillion attempts may have to be made before a solution is discovered.

特幣的用戶是匿名的，只能通過其數(shù)字錢包ID來識(shí)別。 比特幣的價(jià)值由競價(jià)決定，類似于股票的估值方式。 比特幣是如何創(chuàng)建的? 在一個(gè)稱為挖掘的過程中。 這涉及計(jì)算機(jī)之間的競賽，以解決復(fù)雜的數(shù)學(xué)問題，從而驗(yàn)證交易量。 雖然聽起來很簡單，但事實(shí)并非如此。 據(jù)估計(jì)，發(fā)現(xiàn)解決方案之前可能需要進(jìn)行近7萬億次嘗試。

In the end, the owner of the winning computer gets newly created Bitcoins, and the system is made more secure. The cap for the number of Bitcoins that can be created is 21 million, and more than 17 million have been created so far.

最后，獲勝的計(jì)算機(jī)所有者得到新創(chuàng)建的比特幣，并且該系統(tǒng)變得更加安全?？梢詣?chuàng)建的比特幣數(shù)量上限為2100萬，到目前為止，已經(jīng)創(chuàng)建了1700多萬的比特幣。