评论
打印
First there was barter. A system in which simply exchange what they wanted with what they had.
首先是以物易物。在这个系统中，人们只需用自己拥有的东西交换想要的东西。
This simple trade of goods led to an immense increase in specialization, economic growth and wealth.
这种简单的商品贸易导致了专业化、经济增长和财富的大幅增长。
To find each other and exchange what they had for what they needed, people formed markets. To ensure that their produce can be trusted, they later invented brands.
为了找到彼此，用自己拥有的东西交换需要的东西，人们形成了市场。为了确保他们的产品值得信赖，他们后来发明了品牌。
But there was a problem. Barter is based on a "double coincidence of wants", which means that people who wanted each other's stuff, also had to find another.
但有一个问题。以物易物基于“需求的双重巧合”，这意味着想要彼此东西的人也必须找到另一个。
In a world without forms of telecommunications this wasn't easy. And as a result they often had to go an extra mile to find their luck.
在一个没有电信的世界里，这并不容易。因此，他们常常不得不付出额外的努力才能找到自己的运气。
Around 3,500 years ago someone came up with the idea to weigh products in the form of rare metals and gold and silver became a medium of exchange.
大约3500年前，有人想出了称量稀有金属产品的想法，黄金和白银成为了一种交换媒介。
This was possible because there was a shared belief that gold was as beautiful as it was scarce.
这是可能的，因为人们普遍认为黄金既美丽又稀缺。
Gold allowed us to replace barter, and make and sell things, and then save the income of our earning. The ability to store value was born.
黄金让我们能够取代以物易物，制造和销售东西，然后节省我们的收入。储值能力由此诞生。
This meant we were able to take the earnings of our work into the future, which led to an immense increase in innovation and specialization.
这意味着我们能够将劳动所得留存至未来，从而推动创新和专业化进程。
Trade exploded and as a result, a lot of wealth was created. Around 1,000 years ago, some smart businessmen realized that trust itself was as good as gold.
贸易激增，因此创造了大量财富。大约1000年前，一些聪明的商人意识到信任本身就和黄金一样珍贵。
In exchange for goods, they simply promised the seller to give them the gold later and handed them a letter of credit instead.
为了交换商品，他们只是向卖家承诺稍后给他们黄金，并交给他们一张信用证。
Paper notes had the advantage that they were lighter than gold, and easier to count, store and protect.
纸币的优势在于它们比黄金更轻，更容易计数、储存和保护。
Rulers and politicians then soon realized that they can issue these notes themselves and started prohibiting others to do so.
统治者和政客很快意识到他们可以自己发行这些纸币，并开始禁止其他人这样做。
To win the trust of their people, they promised to pay back every note with an equivalent amount of gold.
为了赢得人民的信任，他们承诺用等量的黄金偿还每张纸币。
Around 100 years ago rulers began craving for more money than they had, and so they stopped backing it with gold,
大约100年前，统治者开始渴望拥有比他们拥有的更多的钱，因此他们不再用黄金作为后盾，
and just began printing as many notes as they needed — the so-called fiat money was born.
而是开始印制他们需要的尽可能多的纸币——所谓的法定货币就此诞生。
The newly printed money was often given to business owners in the form of cheap loans. This allowed them to invest, hire, and increase economic activity.
新印制的货币通常以低息贷款的形式发放给企业主。这让他们可以投资、雇佣员工并增加经济活动。
Employees who earned and saved that money realized that while prices of everyday goods went up over time, the buying power of their savings went down.
挣钱并存下这些钱的员工意识到，虽然日用品的价格随着时间的推移而上涨，但他们储蓄的购买力却下降了。
As a result they often spend their savings fast— further increasing economic activity.
因此，他们经常快速花掉储蓄——进一步增加了经济活动。
But soon some began to understand that while their incomes remained relatively flat, housing and company stocks kept rising and rising.
但很快一些人开始明白，虽然他们的收入保持相对平稳，但住房和公司股票却不断上涨。
Inflation of asset prices happened because while there was more and more money, there was still just the same limited amount of land to buy.
资产价格通胀的发生是因为虽然钱越来越多，但可供购买的土地数量仍然有限。
Some started to argue that whenever governments print new money, they effectively reduce the savings of the poor and increase the prices of homes, usually owned by the rich.
一些人开始争辩说，每当政府印制新钞时，他们实际上就会减少穷人的储蓄，并提高通常由富人拥有的房屋价格。
This is one reason people began searching for a new form of money. Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, are the latest form of money.
这是人们开始寻找新货币形式的原因之一。像比特币这样的加密货币是最新形式的货币。
They work just like the others because people can place trust in them. Unlike fiat money, bitcoins are created by a decentralized network of mathematical code.
它们的工作原理与其他货币一样，因为人们可以信任它们。与法定货币不同，比特币是由分散的数学代码网络创建的。
That means that they can be transferred directly from person to person without the involvement of middlemen
这意味着它们可以直接在人与人之间转移，无需中间人的参与，
and no-one can increase the fixed amount of 21 million bitcoins there are - which is the main reason people trust and save them.
而且没有人可以增加2100万比特币的固定数量——这是人们信任和保存它们的主要原因。
What do you think? Will history end here and bitcoin become and remain the last form of money?
你怎么看？历史会在这里终结吗？比特币会成为并保持货币的最后一种形式吗？
And if bitcoins disappear again, which form of money can we all agree to trust going forward?
如果比特币再次消失，我们都能同意在未来信任哪种货币形式？
Before you make your argument, you may want to know that so-called honest or good money usually has five characteristics: Scarcity; Durability; Portability; Divisibility.
在提出论点之前，你可能想知道所谓的良币通常具有五个特征：稀缺、耐用、便携、可分性。
If you found this helpful, check out our other videos and subscribe. If you want to support our work, join us on patreon.com/sprouts. For more information and additional contents, visit sproutsschools.com.
如果您发现这有帮助，请查看我们的其他视频并订阅。如果您想支持我们的工作，请加入我们的patreon.com/sprouts。有关更多信息和其他内容，请访问sproutsschools.com。
