加密货币：良好的道德投资？

据美联储称，估计有 1800 万美国人投资了加密货币。美国刚刚选出了一位支持加密货币的总统。

An estimated 18 million Americans are invested in cryptocurrency, according to the Federal Reserve. And the United States just elected a pro-crypto president.

据美联储称，估计有 1800 万美国人投资了加密货币。美国刚刚选出了一位支持加密货币的总统。

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have become a trendy digital asset. Supporters claim that crypto subverts capitalism because it bypasses traditional bankers. Crypto can offer quick riches along with an air of high-tech sophistication.

比特币等加密货币已成为一种流行的数字资产。支持者声称加密货币颠覆了资本主义，因为它绕过了传统银行家。加密货币可以带来快速的财富以及高科技的复杂性。

Early adopters reaped enormous rewards, many becoming millionaires and billionaires.

早期采用者获得了巨大的回报，许多人成为百万富翁和亿万富翁。

Currently, there are about 100,000 crypto millionaires. Cryptocurrency wealth, furthermore, has built Fairshake, the largest crypto lobbying group in the U.S. During the recent election, it claims it helped elect 253 pro-crypto candidates.

目前，大约有 10 万加密货币百万富翁。此外，加密货币财富还建立了美国最大的加密货币游说团体 Fairshake，在最近的选举中，该组织声称帮助选举了 253 名支持加密货币的候选人。

But is cryptocurrency a good ethical investment?

但加密货币是一种好的道德投资吗？

As a business professor who studies technology and its consequences, I’ve identified three ethical harms associated with cryptocurrency that might give investors pause.

作为一名研究技术及其后果的商学院教授，​​我发现了与加密货币相关的三种道德危害，这些危害可能会让投资者犹豫不决。

The three harms

三大危害

The first harm is excessive energy use, most notably by Bitcoin, the first decentralized cryptocurrency.

第一个危害是能源的过度使用，最明显的是比特币，第一个去中心化的加密货币。

Bitcoins are created, or “mined,” by tens of thousands of computers in massive data centers, contributing significantly to carbon emissions and environmental degradation. Bitcoin mining, which represents the lion’s share of crypto energy consumption, uses as much as 0.9% of global demand for electricity – similar to the annual energy needs of Australia.

比特币是由大型数据中心的数万台计算机创建或“开采”的，对碳排放和环境退化有重大贡献。比特币挖矿占加密货币能源消耗的最大份额，占全球电力需求的 0.9%，与澳大利亚的年度能源需求类似。

Second, unregulated and anonymous crypto is the payment system of choice for criminals behind fraud, tax evasion, human trafficking and ransomware – the latter costing victims an estimated $1 billion in extorted cryptocurrency payments.

其次，不受监管的匿名加密货币是欺诈、逃税、人口贩卖和勒索软件背后的犯罪分子所选择的支付系统——勒索软件使受害者损失了估计 10 亿美元的加密货币支付费用。

Until about a decade ago, these bad actors generally moved and laundered money through cash and shell companies. But around 2015, many transitioned to cryptocurrency, a much less troublesome form of handling dirty money anonymously.

直到大约十年前，这些不良行为者通常通过现金和空壳公司转移和洗钱。但在 2015 年左右，许多人转向了加密货币，这是一种不太麻烦的匿名处理脏钱的方式。

A bank cannot hold or transfer money anonymously. By law, a bank is passively complicit in money laundering if it isn’t enforcing know-your-customer measures to restrict bad actors, such as money launderers.

银行不能匿名持有或转移资金。根据法律，如果银行不执行“了解你的客户”措施来限制洗钱等不良行为者，那么银行就被动地参与了洗钱活动。

In the case of a crypto coin, however, legal and ethical accountability cannot be transferred to a bank – there is no bank. So, who is complicit? Anyone in the crypto ecosystem may be viewed as ethically complicit in enabling illicit activities.

然而，就加密货币而言，法律和道德责任不能转移给银行——根本不存在银行。那么，谁是同谋呢？加密生态系统中的任何人都可能被视为在道德上参与非法活动。

I believe these first two harms are the most ethically troublesome. The first one harms the Earth and the second undermines global systems of trust – the interplay of institutions that underpin economic activity and social order.

我认为前两种危害在道德上是最麻烦的。第一个危害地球，第二个破坏全球信任体系——支撑经济活动和社会秩序的机构之间的相互作用。

Cryptocurrency’s third problem is its predatory culture.

加密货币的第三个问题是其掠夺性文化。

A predatory system, especially without regulatory oversight, takes advantage of small investors. And some cryptos have enriched their founders while taking advantage of investors’ lack of knowledge about the virtual currency.

掠夺性制度，尤其是在没有监管的情况下，会利用小投资者。一些加密货币利用投资者对虚拟货币缺乏了解的优势，让其创始人致富。

Some cryptocurrencies, especially the smaller coins and initial coin offerings, have characteristics of Ponzi schemes.

一些加密货币，特别是较小的硬币和初始硬币产品，具有庞氏骗局的特征。

The now defunct Bitconnect, for example, promised large profits to investors who exchanged their Bitcoins for Bitconnect tokens. New investor money paid out “profits” to the first layer of investors with money from later investors.

例如，现已解散的 Bitconnect 承诺向用比特币兑换 Bitconnect 代币的投资者带来巨额利润。新投资者的资金用后来投资者的资金向第一层投资者支付“利润”。

Ultimately, Satish Kumbhani, the Bitconnect founder, was indicted by a federal grand jury, and as of 2024 his whereabouts are unknown.

最终，Bitconnect 创始人 Satish Kumbhani 被联邦大陪审团起诉，截至 2024 年，他的下落不明。

Pernicious myth

有害的神话

Besides cryptocurrency’s ethical harms, a pernicious myth surrounds the digital coin. It is the myth of inclusion, that cryptocurrency has the power to benefit society’s disadvantaged, especially the unbanked.

除了加密货币的道德危害之外，围绕数字货币还有一个有害的神话。这是包容性的神话，加密货币有能力造福社会弱势群体，尤其是没有银行账户的人。

The global poor who don’t have bank accounts, and who could use cryptocurrency for international money transfers to family back home, do not necessarily benefit from crypto’s advantages. That’s because of the need to pay fees when converting and transferring, say, dollars to crypto and then from crypto to the local currency of the person receiving the money transfer.

没有银行账户的全球穷人，以及可以使用加密货币向家乡家人进行国际汇款的人，不一定能从加密货币的优势中受益。这是因为在转换和转移时需要支付费用，例如将美元转换为加密货币，然后从加密货币转换为接收汇款人的当地货币。

In reality, the distribution of crypto assets is highly concentrated among the wealthy. A 2021 study found that just 0.01% of Bitcoin holders control 27% of its value.

事实上，加密资产的分布高度集中在富人手中。 2021 年的一项研究发现，只有 0.01% 的比特币持有者控制着 27% 的比特币价值。

Democratizing finance is often framed as a movement to break the dominance of traditional financial institutions – private banks and government central banks. However, this narrative has not played out.

金融民主化通常被视为打破传统金融机构（私人银行和政府中央银行）主导地位的运动。然而，这个故事并没有上演。

Instead, a new elite has emerged: cryptocurrency’s creators, early backers and maintainers, who tweak the crypto’s software code and influence its future direction. This group holds disproportionate control, including over the crypto coin’s governance. All of this replicates the concentration of power that crypto was meant to dismantle.

相反，出现了一个新的精英：加密货币的创造者、早期支持者和维护者，他们调整加密货币的软件代码并影响其未来的方向。该组织拥有不成比例的控制权，包括对加密货币的治理。所有这些都复制了加密货币旨在瓦解权力集中的情况。

A bit more ethical?

更有道德一点？

To be fair, the crypto community hasn’t ignored the criticism, including calls for more environmental awareness.

公平地说，加密货币社区并没有忽视这些批评，包括呼吁提高环保意识。

In early 2021, members of the community founded the Crypto Climate Accord. The group enlisted some 250 crypto firms to reduce environmental harm.

2021 年初，社区成员创立了《加密货币气候协议》。该组织招募了约 250 家加密货币公司来减少环境危害。

The following year, Ethereum, with its Ether coin, took the most significant step. It reduced its energy consumption by over 99% by migrating to a coin mining mechanism called “proof-of-stake,” which doesn’t require miners to

第二年，以太坊及其以太币迈出了最重要的一步。通过迁移到一种称为“权益证明”的硬币挖掘机制，它减少了超过 99% 的能源消耗，该机制不需要矿工