比特币让很多人感到困惑，其中包括著名的投资专业人士。最近，我揭穿了十大最普遍的误解和另外五个。
Misconception #16: Divisibility Means Debasement Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million. However, each of the 21 million Bitcoins can be divided into 100,000,000 units called satoshis (or sats). Each sat is worth 0.00000001 of one Bitcoin. That means the Bitcoin supply can be expressed as 2.1 quadrillion satoshis or 2,100,000,000,000,000 sats. This confuses some people, who think that because Bitcoin’s supply can be defined as such a gigantic number, it somehow represents debasement. Clearly, divisibility and debasement are not the same thing. Consider the example of dividing a pizza. It doesn’t matter how many slices you cut; it’s still one pizza. Similarly, some people think Bitcoin is not scarce because there is an ever-increasing number of altcoins—all cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. However, altcoins and Bitcoin are not at all the same thing. (If you think otherwise, try using an altcoin instead of Bitcoin and see what happens.) The growing number of altcoins has absolutely no effect on Bitcoin’s 21 million supply. That would be like thinking increasing the supply of pyrite dilutes the gold supply. Misconception #17: Satoshi Controls Bitcoin Recently, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, claimed that Satoshi Nakamoto—Bitcoin’s anonymous Cypherpunk creator who disappeared in 2011—controls Bitcoin and could change the fixed supply of 21 million. Of course, Dimon did not explain the technical details of exactly how this could happen because he couldn’t. He simply made a confident assertion and probably hoped most people would lap it up because of his appeal to authority. However, Dimon’s sentiment reveals a profound misunderstanding of how Bitcoin works. Let’s start with the basics and build from there to clarify this misunderstood topic. Bitcoin is open-source software, which means its code is available for anyone to download, inspect, suggest changes, and run. Bitcoin was released in 2009, and anyone has had many years to inspect the open-source code, but nobody has ever found anything sinister. If you think there is something sinister in the Bitcoin code, nothing is stopping you from proving it. Think of the Bitcoin blockchain as simply a public database of transactions distributed to over 18,000 computers worldwide. The computers that retain the entire blockchain and run the Bitcoin software are called “full nodes.” Full nodes enforce the Bitcoin protocol and consensus rules—like its issuance and supply. The more full nodes there are, the more secure Bitcoin is. So it’s crucial the average person can easily operate one. The average computer can easily handle running a full node now and in the future, which is essential for Bitcoin to remain decentralized. Any desktop, laptop, Raspberry Pi—and even some cell phones—have the potential to become Bitcoin full nodes. Furthermore, as technology advances, running a full node will become even more accessible. The fact that anyone can run a full node makes the enforcement of Bitcoin’s protocol decentralized. So it’s unlikely that any individual, corporation, or government—or groups of them—could get together to enforce their will on the network by coercing the full nodes. As a practical matter, anyone can change any cryptocurrency whenever they want. All you have to do is take the open-source code—available to anyone—and make your desired changes to the protocol. But that doesn’t mean anyone will follow your lead or value your new cryptocurrency. For example, I can easily create a new version of Bitcoin that changes the supply from 21 million to 22 million and call it “Bitcoin 2.0.” But that doesn’t mean I can inherit the monetary properties of the original Bitcoin, which are related to the credibility of its supply, which I’ve just undermined by changing the protocol. That’s why the market is unlikely to assign any value to Bitcoin 2.0. In short, anyone can create a cryptocurrency in minutes. That’s the easy part. Making one that nobody controls is the hard part. If someone wanted to change to the Bitcoin protocol, it would require the agreement of most of the over 18,000 full nodes that enforce the protocol. Otherwise, the only thing they would succeed in doing is creating an increasingly worthless knockoff. Here’s another way to think of it. Imagine someone wanting to change the rules of chess so pawns could move backward. Of course, anyone could do so anytime, but that doesn’t mean people will follow the new rule. Of course, nothing is impossible, but it would be so improbable that such a move would gain traction that it’s irrelevant. In my view, getting the consensus of the full nodes to change the Bitcoin protocol—to
误解#16：可分割性意味着贬值 比特币的固定供应量为 2100 万枚。然而，2100 万个比特币中的每一个都可以分为 100,000,000 个称为 satoshis（或 sats）的单位。每个 sat 价值 0.00000001 个比特币。这意味着比特币供应量可以表示为 2.1 万亿聪或 2,100,000,000,000,000 sat。这让一些人感到困惑，他们认为由于比特币的供应量可以被定义为如此巨大的数字，因此它在某种程度上代表着贬值。显然，可分性和贬低不是一回事。考虑分割披萨的例子。切多少片并不重要；它仍然是一份披萨。同样，有些人认为比特币并不稀缺，因为山寨币（除比特币之外的所有加密货币）数量不断增加。然而，山寨币和比特币根本不是一回事。 （如果您不这么认为，请尝试使用山寨币代替比特币，看看会发生什么。）山寨币数量的增加对比特币 2100 万枚的供应量绝对没有影响。这就像认为增加黄铁矿供应会稀释黄金供应一样。误解#17：中本聪控制比特币 最近，摩根大通首席执行官杰米·戴蒙 (Jamie Dimon) 声称，2011 年失踪的比特币匿名密码朋克创造者中本聪 (Satoshi Nakamoto) 控制着比特币，并且可以改变 2100 万枚的固定供应量。当然，戴蒙没有解释这到底是如何发生的技术细节，因为他无法解释。他只是做出了一个自信的断言，并且可能希望大多数人会因为他对权威的诉求而接受它。然而，戴蒙的观点揭示了人们对比特币运作方式的深刻误解。让我们从基础知识开始，并以此为基础来澄清这个被误解的主题。比特币是开源软件，这意味着任何人都可以下载、检查、建议更改和运行其代码。比特币于 2009 年发布，任何人都有很多年的时间来检查开源代码，但没有人发现任何险恶的东西。如果你认为比特币代码中有什么险恶的东西，没有什么可以阻止你证明它。将比特币区块链视为一个分布到全球 18,000 多台计算机的公共交易数据库。保留整个区块链并运行比特币软件的计算机称为“全节点”。全节点执行比特币协议和共识规则，例如其发行和供应。全节点越多，比特币就越安全。因此，普通人能够轻松操作是至关重要的。普通计算机现在和将来都可以轻松运行完整节点，这对于比特币保持去中心化至关重要。任何台式机、笔记本电脑、Raspberry Pi，甚至一些手机，都有可能成为比特币全节点。此外，随着技术的进步，运行完整节点将变得更加容易。任何人都可以运行完整节点的事实使得比特币协议的执行去中心化。因此，任何个人、公司或政府（或他们的团体）不太可能聚集在一起，通过强制全节点来在网络上强制执行他们的意愿。实际上，任何人都可以随时更改任何加密货币。您所要做的就是获取任何人都可以使用的开源代码，并对协议进行所需的更改。但这并不意味着任何人都会追随您的领导或重视您的新加密货币。例如，我可以轻松创建一个新版本的比特币，将供应量从 2100 万更改为 2200 万，并将其称为“比特币 2.0”。但这并不意味着我可以继承原始比特币的货币属性，这些属性与其供应的可信度有关，而我刚刚通过更改协议破坏了它。这就是为什么市场不太可能赋予比特币2.0任何价值。简而言之，任何人都可以在几分钟内创建加密货币。这是最简单的部分。制作一个无人控制的系统是最困难的部分。如果有人想要更改为比特币协议，则需要获得执行该协议的 18,000 多个全节点中的大多数节点的同意。否则，他们唯一能成功的事情就是制造出越来越毫无价值的仿冒品。这是另一种思考方式。想象一下，有人想要改变国际象棋规则，以便棋子可以向后移动。当然，任何人都可以随时这样做，但这并不意味着人们会遵守新规则。当然，没有什么是不可能的，但这样的举动不太可能获得关注，以至于变得无关紧要。在我看来，改变比特币协议需要获得全节点的共识——
