特朗普和加密有什麼共同點

美國總統涉足“模因硬幣”的企業通過舊的金融秩序攻入了深層的犬儒主義。由安德魯·奧洛夫斯基（Andrew Orlowski）。

The US president's foray into 'meme coins' taps into a deep public cynicism with the old financial order.

美國總統涉足“模因硬幣”的企業通過舊的金融秩序攻入了深層的犬儒主義。

Andrew Orlowski

安德魯·奧洛夫斯基

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Since the Romans, emperors have stamped their image on coins. Now, so has Donald Trump in the shape of his personal ‘meme coins’, one of the strangest artefacts in crypto finance.

自從羅馬人以來，皇帝將其形象蓋在硬幣上。現在，唐納德·特朗普（Donald Trump）的形狀也是如此，他的個人“模因硬幣”是加密貨幣中最奇怪的文物之一。

Also known as ‘altcoins’ or ‘shitcoins’, meme coins are digital tokens that have ‘little to no value or no immediate, discernible purpose’, in the words of Investopedia. A new coin can be created with a couple of clicks, with its value entirely dependent on market confidence. There’s literally nothing there.

用Investopedia的話說，Meme Coins也被稱為“ Altcoins”或“ Shitcoins”，是數字代幣，幾乎沒有價值或沒有直接，可見的目的”。可以單擊幾下創建新硬幣，其價值完全取決於市場信心。實際上什麼都沒有。

Trump was highly critical of cryptocurrency in his first term, but recent actions reveal the extent to which his attitude has shifted. During the 2024 election, he campaigned on the promise to make the US the ‘bitcoin superpower of the world’. He even announced plans for a federal ‘Strategic Bitcoin Reserve’ in March. On 18 January, days before his inauguration, the president formally entered the ‘shitcoin’ market (now there are some words you thought you’d never read), with new coins called $TRUMP and $MELANIA, named after the first lady.

特朗普對他的第一個任期高度批評加密貨幣，但最近的行動揭示了他的態度改變的程度。在2024年大選期間，他競選承諾使美國成為“世界比特幣超級大國”。他甚至在三月份宣布了聯邦“戰略比特幣儲備”計劃。在他就職典禮的1月18日，總統正式進入了“狗屎幣”市場（現在有一些您以為您從未讀過的話），新硬幣稱為$ trump $ trump和$梅拉尼亞，以第一夫人的名字命名。

Some investors in Trump’s latest business project did very well. Last week, Chainalysis found that 58 wallets had yielded over $1 billion in profits from Trump’s meme coins. But far more people will be ruing their investment. Two days after the launch, the $TRUMP coin was nominally worth $73. At the time of writing, it’s still trading at around $14. As you would expect, many who retained their holding have lost out – last week, it was reported that 764,000 people have now lost money on the investment.

特朗普最新業務項目的一些投資者表現出色。上週，鏈分析發現，從特朗普的模因硬幣中獲得了超過10億美元的利潤。但是，越來越多的人會違反他們的投資。推出兩天后，特朗普硬幣的名義價值73美元。在撰寫本文時，它的交易仍在14美元左右。正如您所期望的那樣，許多保留自己的股份的人已經丟失了 - 上週，據報導，現在有764,000人在投資上損失了錢。

Either way, ownership of $TRUMP buys access – if you have bought enough. Last month, Trump announced that the 220 biggest holders in the coin will be invited to a ‘private gala’ with him on 22 May. This caused the value of the coin to rise by more than 70 per cent. We now find ourselves with a president lending his name and brand to something that has been compared with a ‘legalised Ponzi scheme’, from which his family benefit significantly.

無論哪種方式，如果您購買了足夠多的話，$ Trump的所有權都會購買訪問權限。上個月，特朗普宣布，硬幣中的220大持有人將於5月22日與他一起參加“私人晚會”。這導致硬幣的價值上升了70％以上。現在，我們發現自己與總統的名字和品牌相提並論，將其與“合法的龐氏騙局”相提並論，他的家人從中受益匪淺。

Predictably, this hasn’t gone down well with Trump’s opponents. As 80 per cent of the $TRUMP and $MELANIA coins are owned by ‘Trump-linked entities’, there are accusations that companies are buying the coin simply to peddle influence. Reportedly, Trump’s crypto ventures now represent 40 per cent of his net wealth, or $2.9 billion. And this is set to soar even higher. An Emirati investment firm has announced it will use Trump’s digital coins to transact a $2 billion dollar deal. Democratic senators are now seeking to outlaw Trump’s crypto investments, telling the media that the endeavour is ‘profoundly corrupt’ and a danger to national security.

可以預見的是，這與特朗普的對手並不順利。由於“特朗普與特朗普的實體”擁有$ trump的80％和$ Melania硬幣，因此有指控公司正在購買硬幣只是為了兜售影響。據報導，特朗普的加密貨幣企業現在佔其淨財富的40％，即29億美元。而且這將飆升甚至更高。一家阿聯酋投資公司宣布，它將使用特朗普的數字硬幣來交易20億美元的交易。民主黨參議員現在正在尋求取締特朗普的加密投資，並告訴媒體，這項工作是“深刻腐敗”的，對國家安全構成了危險。

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Should we condemn Trump for cashing in on crypto? Arguably his memecoin isn’t any more outlandish than his threats to annex Canada or plans to reopen Alcatraz. In many ways, the $TRUMP coin is entirely consistent with a character who not only exploits the value of his brand, but is also seemingly indifferent to accusations of vulgarity. Crypto itself often seems to be a giant game in which the players strongly suspect they are being scammed, but don’t particularly care. This is simply a confidence exercise, the type of which the president relishes.

我們應該譴責特朗普兌現加密貨幣嗎？可以說，他的紀念因素並不比他對加拿大吞併或計劃重新打開惡魔島的威脅更古怪。在許多方面，特朗普硬幣與一個不僅利用其品牌價值的角色完全一致，而且似乎對庸俗的指控似乎無動於衷。加密本身通常似乎是一款巨大的遊戲，玩家強烈懷疑自己被騙子騙了，但並不特別在乎。這只是一種自信的練習，總統喜歡的類型。

Consciously or not, Trump is also tapping into a deep cynicism many feel towards financial markets. Crypto has emerged in recent years as faith in capitalism has declined. Big business is operated by giant platforms and cosy cartels, while ordinary people remain stuck with the financial system that inadvertently engineered the 2008 crash, from which real wages have not recovered. Twelve per cent of British adults have dabbled in crypto finance, according to the UK Treasury – a sure sign of its growing popularity.

不管有意識與否，特朗普也正在利用許多人對金融市場的深刻憤世嫉俗。近年來，隨著對資本主義的信仰下降，加密貨幣已經出現。大型企業是由巨型平台和舒適的卡特爾經營的，而普通百姓仍然陷入無意中設計2008年崩潰的金融體系，實際工資尚未恢復。據英國財政部稱，十二％的英國成年人涉足加密貨幣的財務，這是其日益普及的肯定標誌。

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But this shadow financial system is also riddled with crime, from blatant scams to theft. In this way it resembles the 1920s, when the world was also emerging from a pandemic. In that decade, people were tempted into reckless financial speculation on difficult-to-understand schemes, such as exotic financial instruments, land deals and boiler-room scams, which all promised extravagant returns.

但是，從公然的騙局到盜竊，這種影子金融體係也充滿了犯罪。這樣，它就像1920年代一樣，當時世界也從大流行中浮出水面。在那十年中，人們被人們誘使人們對難以理解的計劃，例如異國金融工具，土地交易和鍋爐房間騙局，這都承諾會帶來奢侈的回報。

Crypto has been slammed by critics as ‘financial nihilism’. But when the established financial apparatus has offered so little, who

加密已被批評家抨擊為“金融虛無主義”。但是，當既定的財務設備提供的很少