无意义的术语“加密货币”应该被淘汰

早在 2011 年，加密货币就已经是一个可用的类别，当时只有一种加密货币——比特币。如今，它不再是一个有意义的术语，而且，如果有的话，它会导致理解上的倒退。

Back in 2011, when there was only one cryptocurrency (Bitcoin), the category “Crypto” made sense. But today, it’s no longer a meaningful term and can lead to a regression in understanding.

早在 2011 年，当只有一种加密货币（比特币）时，“加密货币”类别就有意义了。但今天，它不再是一个有意义的术语，并且可能导致理解上的倒退。

For example, Fidelity’s chart above advises clients to conservatively invest 40% of their wealth in “equities,” 59% in “fixed income,” and the remaining 1% in “Crypto.”

例如，上面的富达图表建议客户保守地将 40% 的财富投资于“股票”，59% 投资于“固定收益”，剩下的 1% 投资于“加密货币”。

But these categories are meaningless because, in most cases, Crypto “is” a stock; in other cases, Crypto “is” fixed income.

但这些类别毫无意义，因为在大多数情况下，加密货币“是”股票；在其他情况下，加密货币“是”固定收益。

For instance, the MKR token is based on the Ethereum network and is among the top 100 Crypto assets by total market capitalization on CoinGecko. As a MKR holder, you’re entitled to receive MakerDAO’s income. But MakerDAO is an offshore bank, and MKR holders have rights such as buybacks, voting, and a claim on the remaining assets after paying creditors in bankruptcy, which is essentially equity. So buying MKR is the economic equivalent of buying stock in Bank of America.

例如，MKR 代币基于以太坊网络，是 CoinGecko 上总市值排名前 100 名的加密资产之一。作为 MKR 持有者，您有权获得 MakerDAO 的收入。但 MakerDAO 是一家离岸银行，MKR 持有者拥有回购、投票以及对破产债权人偿付后剩余资产的债权等权利，本质上是股权。因此，购买 MKR 在经济上相当于购买美国银行的股票。

Similarly, DAI tokens, a payment instrument (aka stablecoin) issued by MakerDAO on Ethereum, are the 25th most valuable asset on CoinGecko by total market capitalization. Again, it sounds like Crypto, doesn’t it? But DAI pays 5% interest on top of its dollar peg. That puts it indisputably in the fixed-income category, like Bank of America’s uninsured interest-bearing accounts.

同样，DAI 代币是 MakerDAO 在以太坊上发行的一种支付工具（又名稳定币），按总市值计算，在 CoinGecko 上排名第 25 位最有价值的资产。再说一遍，这听起来像加密货币，不是吗？但 DAI 在与美元挂钩的基础上还要支付 5% 的利息。这毫无疑问地将其归入固定收益类别，就像美国银行的无保险生息账户一样。

So what exactly is Crypto?

那么加密货币到底是什么？

The term “Crypto” describes a database technology, not an asset class. Various asset classes such as stocks, bonds, options, and savings accounts (or various combinations of them) can be recorded and stored in Crypto databases, just as MKR is issued on Ethereum, one of the most popular Crypto databases. These Crypto databases are in the same category as Azure SQL databases or Oracle databases, both of which record assets, but neither is an asset class in itself.

“加密货币”一词描述的是一种数据库技术，而不是一种资产类别。股票、债券、期权和储蓄账户（或它们的各种组合）等各种资产类别都可以记录和存储在加密数据库中，就像 MKR 在以太坊（最流行的加密数据库之一）上发行一样。这些加密数据库与 Azure SQL 数据库或 Oracle 数据库属于同一类别，两者都记录资产，但本身都不是资产类别。

So now you can see why Fidelity’s recommendation that clients invest 99% in equities + fixed income and 1% in Crypto is ridiculous. This is a category perception error, like Fidelity recommending that people hold 99% equity + fixed income, with the remaining 1% stored in an Oracle database.

所以现在你可以明白为什么富达建议客户将 99% 投资于股票 + 固定收益，1% 投资于加密货币是荒谬的。这是一个类别认知错误，就像Fidelity建议人们持有99%的股权+固定收益，剩下的1%存储在Oracle数据库中。

Telling customers that investing 1% of their wealth in a general-purpose asset stored in an Oracle database isn’t just a category error—it sounds pretty reckless. All kinds of crazy financial information appeared in the Oracle database, including sports betting and doomsday options. As for the Crypto database, it is notorious for being riddled with financial scams like Ponzi.

告诉客户将其财富的 1% 投资于存储在 Oracle 数据库中的通用资产不仅仅是一个类别错误，这听起来相当鲁莽。各种疯狂的金融信息出现在Oracle数据库中，包括体育博彩和末日期权。至于加密货币数据库，它因充斥着庞氏骗局等金融骗局而臭名昭著。

Crypto does not refer to an asset class, but rather a database technology that describes the occurrence of assets. The best thing to do is, let’s get rid of the word altogether.

加密货币并不是指一种资产类别，而是一种描述资产发生情况的数据库技术。最好的办法是，让我们完全摆脱这个词。