加密貨幣的數十億美元殭屍入侵

《富比士》編制了一份價值 200 億美元的代幣清單，這些代幣交易量大，但實用性極低，將其稱為「殭屍代幣」。這些代幣的總市值超過 1000 億美元，儘管缺乏重要的應用，但似乎主要用於投機交易目的。其中許多項目持有數百萬美元的資金，但在沒有股東問責或監管監督的情況下運作。這些代幣的流行凸顯了投資者盡職調查的重要性以及行業監管的必要性，以在快速發展的加密貨幣市場中保護投資者。

The Rise of Crypto's Billion-Dollar Zombies

加密貨幣十億美元殭屍的崛起

The cryptocurrency market, valued at nearly $2.5 trillion, encompasses over 14,000 active tokens. Do we truly require such a plethora of blockchain projects?

加密貨幣市場價值近 2.5 兆美元，包含超過 14,000 種活躍代幣。我們真的需要這麼多的區塊鏈項目嗎？

Emphatically, the answer is no.

強調的是，答案是否定的。

The market does not necessitate a proliferation of projects replicating similar functions. This fragmentation of liquidity yields nothing but "worthless" tokens, whose sole purpose is trading.

市場不需要大量複製類似功能的項目。這種流動性的碎片化只會產生「毫無價值」的代幣，其唯一目的是交易。

It is widely acknowledged that "99% of tokens in circulation will eventually vanish," leaving only projects with genuine utility and economic models.

人們普遍認為，“流通中的 99% 的代幣最終都會消失”，只剩下具有真正實用性和經濟模型的項目。

Identifying these "functionless" tokens can pose a challenge. Investors are frequently swayed by buzzwords and grandiose marketing promises that paint unrealistic visions for projects. As such, distinguishing between valuable tokens and those with dubious value can be arduous.

識別這些「無功能」的令牌可能會帶來挑戰。投資者經常受到流行語和宏大的營銷承諾的影響，這些承諾為項目描繪了不切實際的願景。因此，區分有價值的代幣和價值可疑的代幣可能很困難。

After extensive research and analysis, Forbes has compiled a list of 20 billion-dollar tokens that offer minimal utility. These tokens are deemed "zombie" tokens, "living" solely for the purpose of speculative trading.

經過廣泛的研究和分析，《富比士》編制了一份價值 200 億美元、實用性最低的代幣清單。這些代幣被視為「殭屍」代幣，而「活著」只是為了投機交易。

Disclaimer: The following information is based on Forbes' assessment.

免責聲明：以下資訊基於福布斯的評估。

XRP

瑞波幣

XRP tops the list with a market capitalization of $36 billion. It is also considered the longest-lived "zombie," having been established in 2012.

XRP 以 360 億美元的市值位居榜首。它也被認為是最長壽的“殭屍”，成立於 2012 年。

When Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto, and David Schwartz founded Ripple Labs with the XRP token, their goal was to create a new global financial standard that would allow banks to transfer funds quickly and with minimal fees.

當 Jed McCaleb、Arthur Britto 和 David Schwartz 用 XRP 代幣創立 Ripple Labs 時，他們的目標是創建一個新的全球金融標準，讓銀行以最低的費用快速轉移資金。

In the first decade, dozens of financial institutions, including Bank of America and Banco Santander, participated in testing Ripple's new network. To fund their ambitious project, the founders created 100 billion XRP tokens and sold them on the market, raising $1.4 billion.

在第一個十年裡，包括美國銀行和桑坦德銀行在內的數十家金融機構參與了Ripple新網路的測試。為了資助他們雄心勃勃的項目，創始人創建了 1000 億個 XRP 代幣並在市場上出售，籌集了 14 億美元。

At the height of the bull run in early 2018, XRP peaked at a market value of $132 billion, making co-founder and CEO Chris Larsen a billionaire with a net worth of $8 billion.

在 2018 年初牛市的高峰期，XRP 的市值達到 1,320 億美元的頂峰，使聯合創始人兼首席執行官 Chris Larsen 成為淨資產 80 億美元的億萬富翁。

Despite this success, Ripple Labs has failed to compete with SWIFT, let alone surpass its rival. The international payment system SWIFT remains firmly in control, processing $5 trillion in interbank transfers daily.

儘管取得瞭如此成功，Ripple Labs 仍無法與 SWIFT 競爭，更不用說超越其競爭對手了。國際支付系統 SWIFT 仍然牢牢控制著，每天處理 5 兆美元的銀行間轉帳。

Not only has Ripple failed to match SWIFT, but its payment network has also faced competition from stablecoins such as Tether, which has a circulating supply of $100 billion.

Ripple不僅未能與SWIFT相媲美，其支付網絡還面臨著Tether等穩定幣的競爭，Tether的流通量高達1000億美元。

Meanwhile, according to data from Messari, Ripple's XRP ledger generated only $583,000 in transaction processing fees last year—a meager amount compared to the company's grandiose ambitions.

與此同時，根據 Messari 的數據，Ripple 的 XRP 分類帳去年僅產生 583,000 美元的交易處理費——與該公司的宏偉目標相比，這個數字微不足道。

Furthermore, the XRP token serves no purpose beyond being traded by speculators in the secondary market. Yet XRP's market cap remains at $36 billion, making it the sixth-largest coin in the industry.

此外，XRP 代幣除了供投機者在二級市場上交易外沒有其他任何用途。然而，XRP 的市值仍保持在 360 億美元，使其成為該行業第六大代幣。

According to Forbes' billionaire rankings, Larsen is the seventh-wealthiest person in the cryptocurrency industry, with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion.

根據《富比士億萬富翁》排名，拉森是加密貨幣產業第七富豪，估計淨資產為 32 億美元。

Ripple currently holds $24 billion worth of XRP tokens in reserve, sufficient to sell for the next four years. The San Francisco-based company has 900 employees and continues to make headlines for its partnerships with various companies and countries.

Ripple 目前持有價值 240 億美元的 XRP 代幣儲備，足以在未來四年內出售。這家總部位於舊金山的公司擁有 900 名員工，並因其與不同公司和國家的合作關係而不斷成為頭條新聞。

However, despite a decade of efforts, Ripple's progress has been incremental at best.

然而，儘管經過了十年的努力，Ripple 的進步充其量只是漸進的。

Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise Asset Management, commented:

Bitwise 資產管理公司資訊長 Matt Hougan 評論道：

"Ripple is like these early-stage venture funds or companies that raised too much money and don't know what to do with it."

“Ripple 就像這些早期風險基金或公司一樣，籌集了太多資金，但不知道如何使用它們。”

The "Ethereum Killer" Cohort

「以太坊殺手」群體

The largest group of zombie tokens is the "Ethereum Killers," a term popularized during the previous cycle for projects that aimed to dethrone Ethereum.

最大的殭屍代幣群體是“以太坊殺手”，這個術語在上一個週期中流行，指的是旨在推翻以太坊的項目。

These projects primarily touted their alleged superiority over Vitalik Buterin's brainchild, arguing that Ethereum could only process a few dozen transactions per second and suffered from prohibitively high gas fees during periods of high demand.

這些項目主要宣揚其相對於 Vitalik Buterin 的創意的優越性，認為以太坊每秒只能處理數十筆交易，並且在需求旺盛期間遭受過高的汽油費。

However, these arguments have become stale. Ethereum in 2024 is a far cry from its nascent days in 2014. While it remains expensive and faces scalability issues, Ethereum's importance to the DeFi ecosystem and the industry at large is indisputable.

然而，這些論點已經過時了。 2024 年的以太坊與 2014 年的初期相比已經相去甚遠。

So, what becomes of projects that aspired to surpass ETH but failed to keep pace with its advancements?

那麼，那些渴望超越 ETH 但未能跟上其進步步伐的項目會怎麼樣呢？

Cardano (ADA)

卡爾達諾（ADA）

Cardano, once hailed as an "Ethereum Killer," was launched in 2017 when Charles Hoskinson split from ETH due to disagreements with Vitalik Buterin.

曾被譽為「以太坊殺手」的卡爾達諾於 2017 年推出，當時 Charles Hoskinson 因與 Vitalik Buterin 意見分歧而與 ETH 分道揚鑣。

The Cardano blockchain has a staggering value of $23 billion with a TVL of $396 million. The blockchain earned $3 million in fees last year, although the Cardano Foundation itself admits that it is still in its "start-up phase."

Cardano 區塊鏈的價值高達 230 億美元，TVL 為 3.96 億美元。該區塊鏈去年賺取了 300 萬美元的費用，儘管卡爾達諾基金會本身也承認它仍處於「啟動階段」。

The entire Cardano blockchain ecosystem seems to revolve around its eccentric founder, Hoskinson. He owns an 11,000-acre ranch in Wyoming, funds self-proclaimed "alien hunters," and recently opened an anti-aging, regenerative medicine center in the town of Gillette.

整個卡爾達諾區塊鏈生態系統似乎都圍繞著其古怪的創始人霍斯金森。他在懷俄明州擁有一座佔地 11,000 英畝的牧場，資助自稱的“外星人獵人”，最近還在吉列鎮開設了一家抗衰老、再生醫學中心。

However, Hoskinson's credibility has been questioned on several occasions. He claims to have dropped out of a math PhD program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, but the university states that Hoskinson was a graduate student who never completed his degree.

然而，霍斯金森的可信度已多次受到質疑。他聲稱已從科羅拉多大學博爾德分校的數學博士課程退學，但該大學表示霍斯金森是一名研究生，從未完成學位。

Hoskinson has also made vague references over the years to working for Darpa, the Pentagon's prestigious research arm.

多年來，霍斯金森也含糊地提到為五角大廈享有盛譽的研究機構高級研究計畫局（DARPA）工作。

Matt Hougan of Bitwise commented:

Bitwise 的 Matt Hougan 評論道：

"Is this a blockchain that pretends to be an architecture or is it just an experiment that will never go anywhere?"

“這是一個冒充架構的區塊鏈，還是只是一個永遠不會成功的實驗？”

Tezos (XTZ)

特所思 (XTZ)

Tezos, founded in 2014, was one of the first blockchains to incorporate Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus. The project raised $230 million in an ICO in 2017 and currently has a market capitalization of $1.2 billion.

Tezos 成立於 2014 年，是最早採用權益證明 (PoS) 共識的區塊鏈之一。該項目於 2017 年透過 ICO 籌集了 2.3 億美元，目前市值為 12 億美元。

The Tezos blockchain processes around 130,000 transactions per day, compared to Ethereum's 1.2 million, and has a TVL of just $66 million. Ethereum, with over 4,500 dApps, has a TVL of $48 billion.

Tezos 區塊鏈每天處理約 13 萬筆交易，而以太坊的交易量為 120 萬筆，TVL 僅為 6,600 萬美元。以太坊擁有超過 4,500 個 dApp，TVL 為 480 億美元。

While the goal of "surpassing Ethereum" in transaction throughput has proven elusive, what about gas fees?

雖然交易吞吐量「超越以太坊」的目標已被證明難以實現，但天然氣費用呢？

Tezos collected just $5,640 in transaction fees in February 2024 and $177,653 for the entire year of 2023.

Tezos 2024 年 2 月僅收取 5,640 美元的交易費用，2023 年全年收取 177,653 美元。

However, Tezos founder Arthur Breitman insists that this number is significantly lower than the actual amount. According to Breitman, 75% of network fees paid in XTZ are burned—and thus not counted in reported revenue figures.

然而，Tezos 創辦人 Arthur Breitman 堅稱這個數字明顯低於實際金額。據 Breitman 稱，XTZ 支付的網路費用中有 75% 被燒毀，因此沒有計入報告的收入數據中。

The founder estimates that Tezos has $700 million in its treasury and claims that only 20% of that is in XTZ tokens.

創辦人估計 Tezos 的金庫中有 7 億美元，並聲稱其中只有 20% 是 XTZ 代幣。

"The Tezos treasury is very much in Bitcoin and then a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds."

“Tezos 的金庫主要是比特幣，然後是股票和債券的多元化投資組合。”

However, this information cannot be verified.

但該資訊無法核實。

Development of the blockchain is overseen by the Swiss-based Tezos Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to "foster the Tezos protocol through grants and other means of capital deployment."

區塊鏈的開發由總部位於瑞士的 Tezos 基金會負責監督，該基金會是一個非營利組織，其使命是「透過贈款和其他資本部署方式促進 Tezos 協議」。

In the first half of 2023, the Tezos Foundation awarded $18 million to 31 new projects, including a Philadelphia video game company building puzzles on the Tezos blockchain and a Singapore-based talent development company focused on digital art.

2023 年上半年，Tezos 基金會向 31 個新項目授予了 1800 萬美元，其中包括一家在 Tezos 區塊鏈上構建謎題的費城視頻遊戲公司和一家專注於數位藝術的新加坡人才開發公司。

Algorand (ALGO)

阿爾戈蘭 (ALGO)

Algorand has a market capitalization of $2 billion and $500 million in its treasury. It was once touted as an "Ethereum Killer" due to its ability to process 7,500 transactions per second. However, the network generated only $63,000 in transaction fee revenue in 2023.

Algorand 的市值為 20 億美元，其財務資金為 5 億美元。由於其每秒處理 7,500 筆交易的能力，它曾被譽為「以太坊殺手」。然而，該網路 2023 年僅產生 63,000 美元的交易費收入。

One analyst commented:

一位分析師評論道：

"Algorand's technology might be on par with other blockchains, but it doesn't have much activity because it lacks a strong community and talented developers outside of its founders."

“Algorand 的技術可能與其他區塊鏈相當，但它沒有太多活動，因為除了創始人之外，它缺乏強大的社區和才華橫溢的開發人員。”

Algorand was founded by renowned Italian computer scientist and current MIT professor Silvio Micali.

Algorand 由義大利著名電腦科學家、現任麻省理工學院教授 Silvio Micali 創立。

Unsurprisingly, Algorand disputes these claims. Eric Wragge, head of business development at the Singapore-based Algorand Foundation, stated:

毫不奇怪，Algorand 對這些說法提出異議。新加坡 Algorand 基金會業務開發主管 Eric Wragge 表示：

"We're in the market development phase like Uber—have to pay for people to get in cars."

“我們正處於像 Uber 一樣的市場開發階段——必須為人們上車付費。”

The implication is that once this "burn phase" is over, Algorand will emerge as a formidable competitor.

這意味著，一旦這個「燃燒階段」結束，Algorand 將成為一個強大的競爭對手。

The project has been undergoing a rapid turnover of its top executives, and the Algorand Foundation has a new CEO. It remains unclear when this "Uber phase" will end.

該計畫的高階主管正在快速更替，Algorand 基金會有了新的執行長。目前尚不清楚這個「Uber 階段」何時結束。

The Hard Fork Faction

硬分叉派系

Forbes analysts also include hard forks of Bitcoin and Ethereum on their list of billion-dollar zombies: Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Monero, Bitcoin SV, and Ethereum Classic.

福布斯分析師還將比特幣和以太坊的硬分叉列入了他們的十億美元殭屍名單中：比特幣現金、萊特幣、門羅幣、比特幣 SV 和以太坊經典。

These tokens are largely the result of disagreements among developers over how the Bitcoin or Ethereum networks should operate. Since they are open-source, anyone can use them. When developers fail to see eye to eye, they split off and create a new network using the same codebase as the original chain—a process known as a hard fork.

這些代幣很大程度上是開發人員之間對比特幣或以太坊網路應如何運作存在分歧的結果。由於它們是開源的，任何人都可以使用它們。當開發人員意見不一致時，他們就會分裂並使用與原始鏈相同的程式碼庫來建立一個新網絡，這個過程稱為硬分叉。

The new chain shares the transaction history of the original chain. And similar to a stock split, holders of tokens at the time of the fork receive an equal number of tokens on the new chain.

新鏈共享原鏈的交易歷史。與股票分割類似，分叉時的代幣持有者會在新鏈上收到相同數量的代幣。

Litecoin (LTC)

萊特幣 (LTC)

Litecoin hard forked from Bitcoin in 2011 as a faster, cheaper version for everyday transactions.

萊特幣於 2011 年從比特幣中硬分叉出來，作為日常交易的更快、更便宜的版本。

LTC's block time is four times faster than BTC's, producing a new block every 2.5 minutes compared to BTC's 10-minute block time. Litecoin also uses Proof-of-Work (PoW)

LTC 的出塊時間比 BTC 快四倍，每 2.5 分鐘產生一個新區塊，而 BTC 的出塊時間為 10 分鐘。萊特幣也使用工作量證明（PoW）