Our Digital Lives Need Digital Money

数字生活需要数字货币

Money has evolved in the thousands of years since humans began using it to facilitate the ability to trade. That evolution has been driven by two factors, what people need and expect their money to do and the technology which enables a new way to use it. When the two have come together, we’ve seen significant developments in what our money looks like and how we can use it.

自从数千年前人类开始用货币提高交易能力，货币已经发生演变。这种演变受到两个因素的驱动，一是人们需要和期待货币做什么，二是新的货币使用方式所依靠的技术。这两个因素合在一起，货币的形态和使用方式就会呈现重大进展。

During most of that time, the evolutionary process has hummed quietly in the background. Yet, at a few key tipping points, we’ve seen big, more rapidly adopted developments. Even before COVID-19, we were at one of those important moments. In the US, people were engaging in the digital world, and transacting there, an average of 6 hours and 42 minutes each day. (That figure has risen to 13 hours and 36 minutes during the pandemic.) Globally, there are more than 3.5 billion internet users who are conducting more than US$4.4 billion in digital payments per year – activity that is growing at a compounded annual rate of 17%.

在这段历史的大部分时期，货币演化一直在人们视野之外悄然进行。然而，在几个关键的转折点上，我们看到一些重大的、较迅速地被人类接受的进展。甚至在新冠肺炎疫情之前，我们就处于其中一个重要时刻。在美国，人们平均每天有6小时42分钟置身于数字世界并在那里交易。（这个数字在疫情期间升至13小时36分钟。）从全球看，每年有超过35亿互联网用户进行数字支付，总额超过44亿美元——这项活动的年复合增长率为17%。

But even though we are immersed in a digital world, we haven’t fully embraced two of the critical elements to operate within it safely and efficiently: digital money that can be exchanged as simply and certainly as it can be in the physical world, and a trusted and efficient manner to share identity information for people and entities. These are crucial developments as we move to the next phase of the internet: The Internet of Value.

不过，尽管我们沉浸于数字世界，但我们尚未充分接受在数字世界中安全、高效行动所需要的两个关键元素：一是能像在真实世界里一样简单稳妥进行交换的数字货币，二是个人和实体身份信息可靠且高效共享的方式。在互联网进入下一阶段——价值互联网之际，这些进展至关重要。

The Internet of Value operates within an infrastructure that allows individuals and organizations to directly and seamlessly transfer value without the limitations of the physical world. Innovations in tokenization and decentralization are evolving to meet demands for digital money and efficient virtual payments, which will make more of these transactions possible. Central bankers have increasingly recognized the importance of the growth of this infrastructure and the demand to transact through it. Using blockchain and distributed ledger technology, policy makers are examining the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) alongside their coins and paper money.

在价值互联网的运行环境中，个人和组织可以不受真实世界限制，直接、无缝地转移价值。标记化和去中心化领域正不断创新以满足人们对数字货币和高效虚拟支付的需求，为扩大此类交易创造了条件。各国央行官员越来越认识到发展这项基础设施的重要性以及通过它进行交易的需求。决策者正在利用区块链和分布式账本技术，考察央行数字货币（CBDC）与硬币和纸币并行使用的前景。

Momentum is growing quickly: 80% of central banks are working on CBDC capabilities, with 10% of them already piloting projects.

这种势头正迅速增强：80%的中央银行正在开发CBDC能力，其中10%已经在进行试点。

The expectations have been set for consumers and now the technology is able to deliver. Our increasingly digital world needs digitally native money and digital identity. One must be developed with the other in mind in order for them to realize their true potential. The Internet of Value will transform the way people and organizations transact over the internet but only if we can trust we are transacting with the people we think we are.

消费者已经满怀期待，如今技术上也能够实现。我们日益数字化的世界需要数字原生的货币以及数字身份。要让两者发挥其真正潜力，在开发时就必须两者兼顾。价值互联网将改变人和组织通过互联网交易的方式，但前提是我们能够相信自己确实是在跟心中认定的人交易。

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