加密競技：數字貨幣如何捕獲美國政治

不用擔心 - 我今天不會嘗試解釋。但是您應該知道，它的助推器及其精力充沛的超級計算機已經抓住了美國政治

Cryptocurrency boosters and their energy-consuming supercomputers have captured American politics, hoping their industry will grow over the next four years.

加密貨幣助推器及其精力充沛的超級計算機已經抓住了美國政治，希望他們的行業在未來四年內發展。

In fact, these crypto-bros were perhaps the biggest contributors to the 2024 presidential election. The crypto industry pumped more than $200 million in direct donations and hundreds of millions more into industry Super PACs. Like any big donor group, they’re now expecting massive returns on their investments.

實際上，這些加密植物也許是2024年總統大選的最大貢獻者。加密貨幣行業將超過2億美元的直接捐款投入到行業超級PAC中。像任何大捐助者團體一樣，他們現在預計投資會帶來巨大的回報。

Their biggest libertarian dream is not only for the industry to expand, but for the US government to step in and subsidise their speculative investments by trading US gold reserves to buy a national reserve of billions of bitcoins.

他們最大的自由主義者的夢想不僅是該行業擴大，而且要使美國政府通過交易美國黃金儲備購買國家的數十億比特幣儲備，介入並補貼投機性投資。

You should also know that because these digital crypto-currencies require massive amounts of inter-connected computer power to perform thousands of complex calculations every time they want to “mine” a new “coin”, they soak up electricity like a sponge. Admittedly, some are better than others. But just like any type of unregulated mining, the industry in general is an environmental disaster.

您還應該知道，由於這些數字加密貨幣需要大量相互連接的計算機功率，每次想“挖掘”新的“硬幣”時，它們都會執行數千個複雜的計算，因此它們像海綿一樣吸收電力。誠然，有些人比其他更好。但是，就像任何類型的不受管制的採礦一樣，整個行業都是環境災難。

Right now, the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance projects that without any further growth, the electricity demand of all these computers mining and trading bitcoins alone could already reach 172 terawatt hours this year – that’s greater than the annual electricity demand of Poland. And that is assuming no further growth or taking account of any of the hundreds of other cryptocurrencies online.

目前，劍橋替代金融項目中心沒有任何進一步的增長，僅所有這些計算機開采和交易比特幣的電力需求就已經達到了今年的172 Terawatt小時 - 這比波蘭的年度電力需求大。這是假設沒有進一步的增長或在線考慮其他數百個加密貨幣中的任何一個。

Since 2021, a lion’s share of this complex computing has been happening in the USA, especially in Texas. The Energy Information Agency believes it’s putting a massive strain on local power grids, especially at peak times, and estimates that it could represent up to 2.3 per cent of national electricity consumption.

自2021年以來，這項複雜計算的獅子份額一直在美國，尤其是在德克薩斯州發生。能源信息局認為，它對當地電網造成了巨大壓力，尤其是在高峰時段，並且估計它可以佔國家用電量的2.3％。

As crypto-mania grows, so too will this terrible energy bill. And so too, it seems, will its political promoters.

隨著加密雜誌的增長，這項可怕的能源法案也會增長。似乎也是它的政治推動者。

If you didn’t watch Trump’s two-part inauguration, you might have missed “Paster Zo”, more formally known as Pastor Lorenzo Sewell, who launched his very own cryptocurrency – quite literally from church – that rocketed to anestimated value of $4.5 million, but crashed and disappeared four hours later. It has now lost 93 per cent of its value, as have many of its everyday investors, with some estimates that individual investors may have lost tens of thousands of dollars each.

如果您不看特朗普的兩部分就職典禮，那麼您可能會錯過“ Paster Zo”（更正式地稱為Lorenzo Sewell牧師），後者發起了自己的加密貨幣（從字面上看，這是來自教會的，它都散發出了450萬美元的刺激性價值，但是四個小時後墜毀並消失了。現在，它已經損失了其價值的93％，其許多日常投資者也損失了，一些估計單個投資者可能損失了數万美元。

This came only days after the $Trump meme-coin launched, which could become one of his most successful money makers. The coin was launched last week while Trump’s inner circle attended an invite-only crypto ball in DC. Soon after, many of the party-goers were boosting the coin online, as were his family and the president himself. Trump launched the meme coin by inviting his followers on X to “join my very special Trump Community”.

這是在$ trump Meme-Coin推出的幾天之後，這可能成為他最成功的賺錢者之一。該硬幣是上週推出的，而特朗普的內心圈子參加了DC的僅邀請加密球。不久之後，許多聚會者以及他的家人和總統本人都在網上促進硬幣。特朗普通過邀請他的追隨者在X上啟動模因硬幣，以“加入我非常特殊的特朗普社區”。

The meme-coin, which is 80 per cent owned by two of Trump’s shell companies, rose by more than 600 per cent in its first day. It kept climbing as average Americans joined the weekend pile-on. By Sunday night, the price of a single coin had risen from under $10 when it opened to just under $75, reaching a market capitalisation of more than $15 billion.

該模因屬於特朗普兩家殼牌公司擁有的80％，在第一天就增長了600％以上。隨著美國人的普通加入周末的堆積，它不斷攀登。到週日晚上，一枚硬幣的價格從10美元不到10美元上漲，至75美元不到75美元，達到了超過150億美元的市值。

Due to his shell company’s 80 per cent share, Axios analysts estimated that the meme-coin could account for almost 90 per cent of Trump’s net worth. Over the course of a weekend, a slew of crypto-boosters and everyday fans had made him an instant blockchain billionaire.

由於他的Shell公司的80％份額，Axios分析師估計，模因可佔特朗普淨資產的近90％。在一個週末的過程中，一系列加密助推器和每天的粉絲使他成為了即時的區塊鏈億萬富翁。

That is, until the price dropped dramatically. Late on Sunday night, the meme-coin lost half of its market value within an hour. A wave of major investors sold all at the same time, while the Trump family welcomed the newest family meme-coin, $Melania. Those who knew about the coin’s launch, who invested early and calculated when to time their exit correctly, may have made millions in profits.

也就是說，直到價格急劇下降。在周日晚上，模因在一個小時內失去了其市場價值的一半。一波主要的投資者同時出售，而特朗普一家則歡迎最新的家庭模因$ Melania。那些知道硬幣發射的人，他們提早投資併計算出何時正確退出，可能會賺取數百萬美元的利潤。

Analysis of the Solana blockchain suggests this to be the case, and that many others, especially the everyday traders following on Twitter or Truth Social, may have lost millions as well.

對Solana區塊鏈的分析表明，情況如此，許多其他人，尤其是在Twitter或Truth Social上關注的日常交易者，也可能損失了數百萬。

As such, in just the first week of his presidency, Trump and his inner circle of bitcoin bulls had just tried and tested a new and potentially far more lucrative form of energy-hungry political extraction.

因此，在總統任期的第一周，特朗普和他內心的比特幣公牛圈剛剛嘗試並測試了一種新的且潛在的渴望能源的政治提取形式。

What we do know is that the public explosion of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies globally is already destabilising local power grids, and will likely expand its already gargantuan environmental footprint.

我們所知道的是，全球比特幣和加密貨幣的公眾爆炸已經破壞了當地電網的穩定，並且很可能會擴大其已經狂歡的環境足跡。

What we don’t know is whether or not it may also become a destabilising force for national sovereignty – as well as the climate.

我們不知道的是，它是否也可能成為國家主權和氣候的不穩定力量。