比特币正在失去去中心化吗？

美国批准比特币现货交易所交易基金（ETF）受到了业内许多人的热情欢迎

The approval of Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States has been met with enthusiasm by much of the industry, but it has also sparked a debate about their implications for decentralization, one of the pillars on which Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, founded the cryptocurrency.

比特币现货交易所交易基金（ETF）在美国的批准受到了业内许多人的热情欢迎，但这也引发了关于其对去中心化影响的争论，而去中心化是中本聪（Satoshi Nakamoto）的支柱之一。比特币的创造者，创立了加密货币。

ETFs allow investors to access Bitcoin without having to acquire it directly, which has opened the door to a new wave of institutional capital. However, this development could be in conflict with its original philosophy, which seeks a decentralized financial alternative, without the intervention of third parties.

ETF允许投资者无需直接购买即可获得比特币，这为新一波机构资本打开了大门。然而，这种发展可能与其最初的理念相冲突，即寻求一种去中心化的金融替代方案，而无需第三方的干预。

Bitcoin's birth over a decade ago was marked by the promise to eliminate the need to trust or relegate functions to intermediaries, meaning users could control their own funds without depending on banks or financial institutions. The mining-based incentive system, with its Proof of Work model, was designed to guarantee an open, accessible, and secure network where control was distributed among participants and not in the hands of a central entity.

比特币十多年前诞生的标志是承诺消除信任或将功能委托给中介机构的需要，这意味着用户可以在不依赖银行或金融机构的情况下控制自己的资金。基于挖矿的激励系统及其工作量证明模型旨在保证一个开放、可访问且安全的网络，其中控制权分布在参与者之间，而不是掌握在中央实体手中。

Satoshi Nakamoto, when writing the Bitcoin manifesto, explicitly made clear the intention to create a currency that would break away from traditional systems, centered around banks and governments.

中本聪在撰写比特币宣言时，明确表示要创造一种脱离以银行和政府为中心的传统体系的货币。

The emergence of Bitcoin ETFs, while not directly altering the network’s technical structure, introduces a level of intermediation that goes against the idea of financial autonomy. By investing in these products, participants do not own the cryptocurrency directly, but rather buy a share in a fund that tracks the price of BTC.

比特币 ETF 的出现虽然没有直接改变网络的技术结构，但引入了一定程度的中介，这违背了财务自治的理念。通过投资这些产品，参与者并不直接拥有加密货币，而是购买追踪比特币价格的基金的份额。

This model moves away from the essence under which cryptocurrencies were conceived, as transactions and asset custody depend on centralized entities like exchanges and custodians such as Coinbase. This could lead to large institutions, rather than users, controlling large amounts of Bitcoin, creating risks of power concentration in a few hands.

这种模式背离了加密货币的本质，因为交易和资产托管依赖于交易所和 Coinbase 等托管机构等中心化实体。这可能导致大型机构而不是用户控制大量比特币，从而造成权力集中在少数人手中的风险。

It is important to note that ETFs do not directly affect the Bitcoin network or its technical functioning. Transactions of buying and selling shares do not require blockchain operations, so they do not generate congestion or increase transaction fees. However, the easy access to BTC for institutional investors could drive the price of the cryptocurrency up, which, while benefiting miners, could also lead to a market dominated by a few players.

值得注意的是，ETF 不会直接影响比特币网络或其技术功能。买卖股票的交易不需要区块链操作，因此不会产生拥堵或增加交易费用。然而，机构投资者轻松获得比特币可能会推高加密货币的价格，这在有利于矿工的同时，也可能导致市场由少数参与者主导。

The dilemma of ETFs is clear: they may provide a new adoption avenue for Bitcoin, but it could come at the cost of the decentralization inherent to its design. Satoshi envisioned a network that eliminated intermediaries, but with ETFs, cryptocurrencies could be returning to a centralized model, where control does not rest with users but with traditional institutions. Therefore, in their effort to popularize and stabilize the market, they could be altering the philosophical foundations on which BTC and subsequent cryptocurrencies were conceived.

ETF 的困境很明显：它们可能为比特币提供新的采用途径，但这可能会以牺牲其设计固有的去中心化为代价。中本聪设想了一个消除中介机构的网络，但通过 ETF，加密货币可能会回归中心化模式，其中控制权不在于用户，而在于传统机构。因此，在他们努力普及和稳定市场的过程中，他们可能会改变比特币和随后的加密货币的哲学基础。

However, not everything is negative. It is also true that ETFs could help professionalize the crypto industry, driving the adoption of blockchain technologies by larger companies and consolidating the market in a safer and more regulated environment. Moreover, the institutionalization of BTC has led to a significant increase in the cryptocurrency’s price, as many financial groups have funneled large capital injections from investors who expected a more suitable regulatory framework.

然而，并非一切都是负面的。 ETF 确实可以帮助加密货币行业专业化，推动大公司采用区块链技术，并在更安全、更规范的环境中巩固市场。此外，比特币的制度化导致了加密货币价格的大幅上涨，因为许多金融集团从期望更合适的监管框架的投资者那里注入了大量资金。

While centralization must be closely monitored by the entire community, it is also possible that the process of integration with the traditional financial system will offer greater legitimacy and trust to new users. The key will be to find a balance where institutional adoption does not hinder the decentralized essence of Bitcoin, but responsibly complements it.

虽然中心化必须受到整个社区的密切监控，但与传统金融系统的整合过程也有可能为新用户提供更大的合法性和信任。关键是找到一种平衡，使机构采用不会阻碍比特币的去中心化本质，而是负责任地补充它。