【文章预读】

First on the list, after bitcoin, was Ethereum, whose coin, called ether, reached a market capitalisation of $137bn. Ethereum’s claim to fame is that it is also a platform for “smart contracts”—business rules encapsulated in software. Most ICO tokens, for instance, are issued by such contracts. Its success has attracted crypto-copycats: Cardano ($20bn) and NEO ($8bn), a Chinese version.

Ripple, too, is defying gravity. It is all the rage in crypto-crazy South Korea, which this week roiled crypto-markets with plans to ban trading on exchanges. Ripple sells software to move money between countries; more than 100 banks have signed up to its technology, based on a coin called XRP. Its market capitalisation jumped by more than 40,000% in 2017, reaching nearly $149bn on January 4th, before falling back to $78bn. That still makes Chris Larsen, a Ripple co-founder, one of the world’s richest people, at least on digital paper.


【文章精讲】

First on the list, after bitcoin, was Ethereum, whose coin, called ether, reached a market capitalisation of $137bn. Ethereum’s claim to fame is that it is also a platform for “smart contracts”—business rules encapsulated in software.Most ICO tokens, for instance, are issued by such contracts. Its success has attracted crypto-copycats: Cardano ($20bn) and NEO ($8bn), a Chinese version.

在网站列表上，紧跟比特币之后的是以太坊（Ethereum）发行的以太币，市值达1370亿美元。以太坊成名的原因在于它还是一个“智能合约”平台——在软件中嵌入商业规则。市面上大部分ICO代币就是通过这些合约发行的。以太坊的成功催生了不少跟风的加密交易平台，如卡尔达诺（Cardano，市值200亿美元）及中国的NEO（市值80亿美元）。

Ethereum 以太坊
ether n.以太币
claim to fame 出名的原因
-sb’s/sth’s claim to fame
-The city’s claim to fame is that the president was born here.
encapsulate v.概述
for instance 举例来说
issue v.发行
- issue n.问题，期刊
copycat n.复制品
version n.版本

Ripple, too, is defying gravity. It is all the rage in crypto-crazy South Korea, which this week roiled crypto-markets with plans to ban trading on exchanges. Ripple sells software to move money between countries; more than 100 banks have signed up to its technology, based on a coin called XRP. Its market capitalisation jumped by more than 40,000% in 2017, reaching nearly $149bn on January 4th, before falling back to $78bn. That still makes Chris Larsen, a Ripple co-founder, one of the world’s richest people, at least on digital paper.

瑞波币（Ripple）也是狂飙突进。在狂热追逐加密货币的韩国，瑞波币备受追捧。本月稍早时，韩国当局计划禁止加密货币在交易所交易，导致市场一片混乱。瑞波公司销售跨国转移资金的软件，有一百多家银行采用了该公司基于瑞波币（XRP）的技术。瑞波币市值在2017年跃升超过40,000%，1月4日升至近1490亿美元。尽管之后回落至780亿美元，但仍然令瑞波币的联合创始人克里斯•拉森（Chris Larsen）成为世界上最富有的人之一，至少在“数字”账面是这样。

Ripple/XRP 瑞波币
defy v.反抗
- She defied her parents and dropped out of school.
gravity n.地心引力
rage n.愤怒，混乱
- He was full of rage.
roil v.使混乱
- Conflicting emotions roiling inside her.


【推荐句式表达】

claim to fame
Sb’s/sth’s claim to fame is that…