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Since it’s inception five years ago, bitcoin hype has spread across the globe. “Bitcoin accepted here” stickers have popped up in restaurants and stores. It’s even made it to Twin Mountain Country Store, a convenience store and deli in a remote corner of New Hampshire. But customers aren’t exactly flocking to pay with the digital currency.
从五年前问世到现在，比特币热已经席卷全球。餐馆和商店开始悄然出现“本店接受比特币”的标示，甚至在新罕布什尔州偏僻的便利熟食店里都能看到。不过，对使用比特币支付趋之若鹜的消费者却未曾出现。
Twin Mountain’s owner Bill Bochynski said he only sees about two bitcoin transactions a month in the $20 range. He said he started accepting bitcoin because someone came into the shop and wanted to pay with it, so he did some reading and set up a digital wallet to accept it.
新罕布什尔州熟食店Twin Mountain Country Store（TMCS）店主比尔o波钦斯基说，他每个月只会见到大约两笔20多美元的比特币交易。TMCS开始接受比特币是因为曾有位顾客进店要求用比特币付款，于是比尔读了一些资料，然后建立了一个用于收款的电子钱包。
“The number of people who want to pay with bitcoin is in the onesies and twosies,” he said. “It’s extremely technical and geeky.”
他表示：“想用比特币付款的顾客少之又少。这东西技术属性太强。”
Despite the buzz, relatively few shoppers use bitcoin when buying from retailers that accept it. At least for now, the currency is more of a curiosity than a true rival to cash and credit cards.
尽管是个热门话题，但只有很少的购物者使用比特币在零售商那里进行付款。至少到目前为止，比特币更多地是一种新奇玩意儿，而非现金和信用卡的真正竞争者。
In October, there were about 70,000-80,000 bitcoin transactions a day according to bitcoin.info, or about double from two years ago. But the numbers are minuscule compared with the 26 billion card transactions that occur each year according to a 2013 study by the Federal Reserve Bank.
来自比特币信息网站bitcoin.info的数据显示，今年10月份，比特币日交易数量为7-8万笔，和两年前相比大约翻了一番。但美联储（Federal Reserve）2013年的研究显示，每年的银行卡交易数量为260亿笔。和后者相比，比特币交易微不足道。
Part of the reason why transaction volumes remain so low is bitcoin is very much the realm of the technorati. Created by a developer using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin is an encrypted code exchanged between two people. To create bitcoins, people must solve complex math problems. Anyone using the digital currency can remain anonymous as long as they don’t deliberately reveal their names.
比特币交易量如此之低，部分原因在于它属于高度技术范畴。比特币由化名中本聪的开发者缔造，是在两个人之间进行交换的一组加密代码。要制造比特币，就必须解开复杂的数学算式。只要不故意透露姓名，任何人都能一直在匿名状态下使用比特币。
On the upside, this means bitcoin is harder to steal, and can be transferred instantaneously. On the downside the value fluctuates wildly (as of early November 2014 one bitcoin was valued at about $420, but a week earlier it was $330), making users reluctant to keep it. Plus, key point, there aren’t many places where you can spend bitcoin.
有利的一面是，这意味着盗窃比特币很困难，而且比特币可以瞬间完成转账。不利的一面是，比特币的价值波动很剧烈（今年11月初，一枚比特币的价值约为420美元，而一周前这个数字是330美元），这造成用户不愿意持有比特币。更关键的一点在于能用比特币消费的场所并不是很多。
More retailers are starting to accept digital currency. The exact numbers aren’t entirely clear, but services like Coinbase and BitPay that help merchants convert bitcoins into dollars provide a window. Coinbase said it has 36,000 merchants signed up and that those ranks grow 10% growth monthly. Bitpay said it has over 40,000 merchants, or quadruple from the start of the year.
更多的零售商开始接受比特币。虽然具体数量并不十分明确，但Coinbase和BitPay等服务商帮助商家把比特币兑换成美元，从而为比特币消费打开了一扇窗口。Coinbase表示，该公司已经和3.6万户商家签约，而且这个数字正以每个月10%的速度递增。BitPay称，该公司的签约商家已经超过4万户，是今年初的四倍。
According to BitPay merchants who favor bitcoin tend to be enthusiasts or merchants who sell high-ticket items like TVs or non-refundable items like travel. Stephanie Wargo, vice president of marketing at BitPay explains the appeal. “If you buy a large ticket item, you want to make sure your information is safe and secure,” she said. “And from a merchant standpoint it’s not effective to accept cards for small ticket items. Fees eat into your profits.”
据BitPay介绍，青睐比特币的商家往往热衷此道，或者销售的是电视等大宗消费品以及旅游等不可退款的产品。该公司营销副总裁斯蒂芬妮o沃戈解释了比特币吸引人的原因：“如果买的是大宗消费品，人们会希望确保自己的信息安全而且保密。从商家角度而言，小额交易接受银行卡缺乏效率。手续费会侵蚀利润。”
Despite Wargo’s enthusiasm, small retailers that accept bitcoin often only get a few transactions a month with the currency. Bill Finley started accepting bitcoin last October at his clothing store Hemp & Company in Vancouver, and gets about three bitcoin sales a month, he said. But he gave the low sales numbers a positive spin.
尽管沃戈热情满满，但接受比特币的小型零售商每个月只会碰到几次比特币交易。比尔o芬利在温哥华开的服装店Hemp & Company去年10月份开始接受比特币。他说，比特币消费每个月大概会出现三次。尽管销售额较少，但芬利对此仍保持积极态度。
“Most of these sales are because customers want to spend their bitcoin and searched us out,” Finley said. “We’re reaching a demographic we probably never would have.”
芬利认为：“大多数购物者用比特币消费的原因是他们想把比特币花出去，他们通过搜索找到了我们。现在我们接触到的这批消费者以前也许永远也不会成为我们的顾客。”尽管同一社区的其他商家没有加入接受比特币的行列，但芬利觉得比特币的未来充满希望。他说：“这种技术绝对不会消失。”
Finley remains hopeful about the future of bitcoin, despite the fact that merchants in his community aren’t joining in. “It’s a technology that isn’t going to go away,” he said.
比特币热并不仅限于小型零售商。一些大型零售企业也开始为了接受比特币而进行投资。它们的理由是支付技术必将出现变化，而它们希望走在最前面。
The hype isn’t limited to small retailers. Some larger retailers have made the investment to start accepting bitcoin too. They reason that payment technologies will change and they want to be at the forefront.
在线电子零售商新蛋（Newegg）从7月份开始接受比特币。该公司称，这么做是因为自己的客户群体中有很多技术人员。新蛋首席营销官索伦o米尔斯表示：“我们是技术先锋，我们的客户群体也是如此，我们希望给他们带来一些支付技术上的创新。”
Online electronics retailer Newegg, which started accepting bitcoin in July, said it did so because its client base is full of techies. “We are tech forward, our customer base is that way, we want to bring them that kind of innovation in payment technology as well,” said Soren Mills, the company’s chief marketing officer.
尽管没有透露比特币交易数量，新蛋称，这个数字较小，不过正在增长。这部分顾客购买的往往是能用来解开数学算式赚取比特币的商品，比如显卡，主板和硬盘。米尔斯说：“比特币给我们带来了一些新顾客。这个群体真的很重要。”
Newegg wouldn’t disclose number of transactions, but said the numbers are small but growing. Purchases tend to be for products that support solving the math problems that earn bitcoins: graphic cards, motherboards, hard drives. “We’ve doubled our run-rate over the last three months,” Mills said. “Bitcoin has brought us some new customers. It’s got a group of people that it’s really important to.”
另一家在线零售商Overstock.com从今年1月份开始接受比特币。在随后的七个星期里，该公司完成了逾100万美元的比特币交易。首席执行官帕特里克o伯恩预计，今年全年将出现2.5万次比特币消费，总交易额将达到600万美元。不过，这只占Overstock.com全年收入的0.25%。
Overstock.com, another online retailer, started accepting bitcoin in January 2014. Within the first seven weeks, it had over $1 million in transactions with the currency. CEO Patrick Byrne expects to close the year with 25,000 transactions totaling $6 million – but that’s only .25% of the company’s annual revenue.
伯恩说：“我意识到（市场）对比特币存在迫切需求，我也希望能从这个市场中分一杯羹。我这个人支持限制政府。我不喜欢任何形式的垄断，包括政府对货币的垄断。”
“I realized there was a hunger for bitcoin, I wanted to get a slice of that market,” said Byrne. “I’m a limited government guy. I don’t like monopolies of any kind including the monopoly government has over money.”
他认为比特币带来的机会远不止零售交易。上个月伯恩公布了一项计划，内容是用比特币技术建立分散的证券交易所。这项使比特币在人与人之间进行划转的技术从理论上来说，将使得人们可以在避开政府监管的情况下完成股票买卖。
Byrne’s sees bitcoin as opening the doors far beyond retail transactions. Last month, he disclosed plans to use bitcoin’s technology to create a decentralized stock exchange. The technology that is responsible for transferring bitcoin from one person to another will let people transfer company shares to each other, bypassing government regulators – at least in theory.
伯恩对比特币的热情直接触及到了比特币热的核心。热衷者并不是为比特币本身感到兴奋。他们也知道比特币不好用，而且也不便于操作。而让他们兴奋的是比特币所展现出的可能性。斯蒂芬妮加入BitPay的原因是她认为，对希望向海外汇款时不缴纳任何手续费的人来说，比特币是个完美的解决方案。Hemp & Company的比尔o芬利则相信比特币就像电子邮件，最初的表现很粗糙，但它会存在下去。
Byrne’s enthusiasm drives straight to the heart of the bitcoin frenzy. Enthusiasts aren’t excited about bitcoin for it’s own sake. They agree it’s clunky and not particularly user-friendly. Rather they are excited by the possibilities it presents. Stephanie Wargo joined BitPay because she saw bitcoin as the perfect solution for people who want to send remittance abroad without any fees. Billy Finley from Hemp & Company believes bitcoin is akin to email: the first iterations were rough, but now it’s here to stay.
而对于新罕布什尔州的便利店主波钦斯来说，他并非真正的比特币爱好者，在他看来比特币是一种玩具。但比特币改变了人们对货币的理解，这种吸引力让他无法抗拒。他说：“比特币交易也许几个月都不会出现一次，但它正在挑战现状。”（财富中文网）
