比特币和美元不在同一个联盟中

人们经常问我：“比特币的总供应2100万枚硬币，不是比美元更可靠吗？最终会取代美元吗？”

People often ask me, "Bitcoin has a total supply of 21 million coins, isn't that much more reliable than the dollar? Will it eventually replace the dollar?" Every time I hear such questions, I want to pull out my phone and show them two pictures: one is the Bitcoin price chart over the past six months, jumping from 60,000 to 110,000 and then dropping back to 80,000, and the other is a price tag showing an 8% increase in supermarket egg prices.

人们经常问我：“比特币的总供应2100万枚硬币，不是比美元更可靠吗？最终会取代美元吗？”每次我听到这样的问题时，我都想拿出手机并向他们展示两张照片：一个是过去六个月中的比特币价格表，从60,000跃升至110,000，然后减少到80,000，另一个是一个价格标签，显示超市鸡蛋价格上涨8％。

What does this mean? Bitcoin and the dollar are not even in the same league; it's like you can't use a sports car to haul goods, nor can you use a truck to race. Today, let's set aside those "disrupting hegemony" slogans and explain this matter from the fundamental logic of economics.

这是什么意思？比特币和美元甚至不在同一个联盟中；就像您不能使用跑车拖运商品，也不能使用卡车进行比赛。今天，让我们搁置那些“破坏霸权”的口号，并从经济学的基本逻辑中解释这一问题。

The Essence of Currency: A Continuous Division of Roles for Thousands of Years

货币的本质：数千年的角色连续划分

When humans first used shells as money, they probably didn't foresee the later evolution into gold, copper coins, paper money, and digital currency. However, after thousands of years of evolution, the currency system has always followed an iron law: No currency can simultaneously serve as a "safe" and a "wallet."

当人类首次将壳作为金钱时，他们可能没有预见后来的演变成黄金，铜币，纸币和数字货币。但是，经过数千年的发展，货币体系始终遵循铁法：没有货币可以同时用作“安全”和“钱包”。

Why did gold exit daily circulation? Because carrying gold bars to buy groceries is simply absurd. Why doesn't the dollar dare to mimic Bitcoin's fixed supply? Because the economy needs central banks to adjust the faucet to prevent droughts and floods.

黄金为什么每天退出循环？因为携带金条购买杂货简直是荒谬的。为什么美元不敢模仿比特币的固定供应？因为经济需要中央银行来调整水龙头以防止干旱和洪水。

Behind this is a fundamental split in the functions of money. Economists have long divided money into three roles: piggy bank (store of value), payment code (medium of exchange), and measuring unit (unit of account). Gold excels in the "piggy bank" domain, but using it as a "payment code" can be fatal—during the 2013 Cyprus financial crisis, someone actually tried to pay for surgery with gold bars, and the doctor wasted half an hour checking the purity with calipers, delaying the rescue. However, to be fair, the dollar has perfected the "payment code," but its purchasing power has shrunk by 40% over the past twenty years; storing dollars is like leaving ice cubes in the sun.

这背后是金钱功能的基本分歧。经济学家长期以来将金钱分为三个角色：存钱罐（价值存储），付款代码（交换媒体）和衡量单位（帐户单位）。在2013年塞浦路斯的金融危机中，Gold在“小猪银行”领域中表现出色，但将其用作“付款代码”可能是致命的，实际上有人试图用金条与黄金棒那支付手术，医生浪费了半个小时的时间，检查了与卡尺的纯度检查，从而延迟了救援。但是，公平地说，美元已经完善了“付款代码”，但是在过去的二十年中，其购买力缩小了40％。存储美元就像将冰块留在阳光下。

A fixed total supply and ease of storage make such items suitable as a piggy bank, referred to as a "store of value" in economics, because it can store your value without the constant concern of inflation and depreciation risks associated with fiat currency. However, due to the fixed total supply and scarcity effect, the price cannot remain unchanged; if the consensus is strong enough, it will continuously appreciate, making it unsuitable as a “payment code.”

固定的总供应和易于储存性使此类物品适合像小猪银行一样，被称为经济学中的“价值存储”，因为它可以存储您的价值，而不会持续关注通货膨胀和与法定货币相关的折旧风险。但是，由于固定的总供应和稀缺效应，价格无法保持不变。如果共识足够强大，它将不断欣赏，这使其不适合作为“付款代码”。

Items suitable as payment codes must have a controllable and constantly changing total supply. When the price needs to rise, the issuance must be reduced; when the

适用于付款代码的项目必须具有可控且不断变化的总供应。当价格需要上涨时，必须降低发行；什么时候