比特幣（BTC）作為庫存資產：企業融資的新時代？

12 月，Microstrategy 執行主席 Michael Saylor 向微軟董事會作了介紹。塞勒認為，微軟應該將部分資金投入比特幣。

A proposal by Michael Saylor, executive chairman of MicroStrategy, to have Microsoft put a portion of its treasury funds in bitcoin was voted down by a large majority of the company’s shareholders at the annual meeting in December. (Author’s note: I currently do not hold bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.)

MicroStrategy 執行主席 Michael Saylor 提議讓微軟將部分庫存資金投入比特幣，但在 12 月的年會上被該公司絕大多數股東否決。 （作者註：我目前不持有比特幣或任何其他加密貨幣。）

This measure was significant because it marked the first time that a major U.S. company had considered adding bitcoin to its balance sheet. While some companies, such as Tesla and others, already hold bitcoin on their balance sheets, Microsoft is a bellwether of the U.S. stock market and could sway other corporations to follow suit.

這項措施意義重大，因為它標誌著美國大公司首次考慮將比特幣添加到其資產負債表中。雖然特斯拉等一些公司已經在資產負債表上持有比特幣，但微軟是美國股市的領頭羊，可能會影響其他公司效仿。

Here are the arguments in favor of bitcoin for corporations.

以下是支持企業使用比特幣的論點。

The main argument that bitcoin evangelists put forth (Saylor is just one of them) is that it is an inflation hedge. Why is that? For starters, bitcoin is hard capped at 21 million by design. No one can change that, unless the entire community “hard forks,” which would probably shake up and cause widespread fallout. This is in contrast to the U.S. dollar and most other fiat currencies, which governments worldwide often increase in supply, which leads to inflation.

比特幣傳播者（塞勒只是其中之一）提出的主要論點是，它是一種通膨對沖工具。這是為什麼？首先，比特幣的設計硬性上限為 2,100 萬。沒有人可以改變這一點，除非整個社區進行“硬分叉”，這可能會產生震動並造成廣泛的影響。這與美元和大多數其他法定貨幣形成鮮​​明對比，世界各國政府經常增加美元和大多數其他法定貨幣的供應，導致通貨膨脹。

Saylor and others argue that bitcoin acts as an “uncorrelated” asset, meaning that bitcoin moves independently (not as a herd) from other assets such as stocks, bonds and gold and could offset any losses for a particular quarter or calendar year.

塞勒和其他人認為，比特幣是一種「不相關」資產，這意味著比特幣獨立於股票、債券和黃金等其他資產（而不是作為群體）移動，並且可以抵消特定季度或日曆年的任何損失。

Additionally, the Financial Accounting Standards Board in 2023 issued guidance to allow for “fair-value” accounting of digital assets on corporate balance sheets. Before this FASB ruling, companies needed to reflect digital asset value losses but not gains in their updated balance sheets.

此外，財務會計準則委員會於 2023 年發布了指導意見，允許在企業資產負債表上對數位資產進行「公允價值」會計。在 FASB 做出此裁決之前，公司需要在更新的資產負債表中反映數位資產價值損失，而不是收益。

Another important development was the SEC's approval of bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, which paved the way for people, funds and companies that did not want to hold the actual volatile underlying digital bitcoin asset to hold it in an SEC legally protected stock instrument.

另一個重要進展是美國證券交易委員會(SEC) 於2024 年1 月批准了比特幣ETF，這為那些不想持有實際波動性基礎數位比特幣資產的個人、基金和公司將其持有在美國證券交易委員會(SEC) 受法律保護的股票工具中鋪平了道路。

Now corporate buyers have several options to hold bitcoin or participate in its growth. They can hold actual bitcoin, hold companies that have a lot of bitcoin, hold an SEC-approved ETF or trade perpetuals, futures contracts or options.

現在，企業買家有多種選擇來持有比特幣或參與其成長。他們可以持有實際的比特幣、持有擁有大量比特幣的公司、持有美國證券交易委員會批准的 ETF 或交易永續合約、期貨合約或選擇權。

Finally, bitcoin has outpaced other assets in terms of growth in the past decade.

最後，在過去十年中，比特幣的成長速度超過了其他資產。

Additionally, bitcoin is a new asset class with fewer “counterparty” risks relative to other asset classes used to store funds or wealth, such as bonds, gold and real estate, a feature noted in the original 2008 bitcoin whitepaper. A “counterparty” risk is something like corporate theft, fraud or malfeasance that could force a high-flying stock to zero overnight.

此外，比特幣是一種新的資產類別，相對於用於儲存資金或財富的其他資產類別（例如債券、黃金和房地產），「交易對手」風險較小，這一特點在2008 年比特幣白皮書中指出。 「交易對手」風險是指公司竊盜、詐欺或瀆職行為，可能會迫使股價飆升的股票在一夜之間跌至零。

That said, it is not true to say bitcoin itself has no counterparty risk, as quantum computers could potentially hack its cryptography, but so far, that has not happened. The internet itself could also go down globally, albeit probably only for short periods.

也就是說，說比特幣本身沒有交易對手風險是不正確的，因為量子電腦可能會破解其密碼，但到目前為止，這種情況還沒有發生。互聯網本身也可能在全球範圍內癱瘓，儘管可能只是短期的。

What the future may bring

未來可能帶來什麼

Over the years, I have grown to respect this new asset class. While many technologies encountered serious opposition during their early years, there is something called the Lindy effect that says that if something nonperishable has survived over time, it will likely remain.

多年來，我逐漸尊重這種新的資產類別。雖然許多技術在早期遇到了嚴重的反對，但有一種稱為林迪效應的東西，即如果一些不易腐爛的東西隨著時間的推移而倖存下來，它很可能會繼續存在。

Sometimes older generations dismiss things because new developments do not fit into the pattern they have been accustomed to. Although I have not personally put bitcoin on my own balance sheet, I can see Gen Z — who will take the reins of corporations in the future — doing so. That’s because Gen Z has grown up as digital natives without analog payphones, library card catalogs, LPs and the like.

有時，老一輩會因為新的發展不符合他們已經習慣的模式而忽略一些事情。儘管我個人還沒有將比特幣納入自己的資產負債表，但我可以看到 Z 世代——他們將在未來掌管企業——這樣做。這是因為 Z 世代是作為數位原住民成長起來的，沒有類比公用電話、借書證目錄、密紋唱片等。

Whether bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) significantly becomes a treasury asset for many of the world’s businesses and corporations is something to watch. At the moment, most nonbelievers point to its volatility (beta) as a negative, but hardcore bitcoin and crypto believers point to volatility as a “feature not a bug,” meaning that when these price drops happen, buyers swoop in to acquire more, thus maintaining the long-term rise its price trend shows.

比特幣（或其他加密貨幣）是否會顯著成為世界上許多企業和公司的財務資產值得關注。目前，大多數非信徒認為其波動性（貝塔值）是負面的，但比特幣和加密貨幣的鐵桿信徒則將波動性視為“特徵而不是錯誤”，這意味著當價格下跌發生時，買家會蜂擁而入，購買更多，從而維持其價格趨勢所顯示的長期上漲。

As the new bitcoin-friendly Trump administration moves in, and more companies acquire even small amounts of bitcoin (or other derivative instruments) into their treasuries alongside larger pension and sovereign wealth funds, the growth phase and volatility of bitcoin may become more tempered and even be called a “boring” growth asset in the future.

隨著新的對比特幣友好的川普政府上台，越來越多的公司將少量的比特幣（或其他衍生性工具）與規模更大的退休金和主權財富基金一起購買到他們的國庫中，比特幣的成長階段和波動性可能會變得更加溫和，甚至變得更加溫和。