So you can’t churn out unlimited bitcoins?
所以你不能無(wú)限的生產(chǎn)比特幣
That’s right. The bitcoin protocol – the rules that make bitcoin work – say that only 21 million bitcoins can ever be created by miners. However, these coins can be divided into smaller parts (the smallest divisible amount is one hundred millionth of a bitcoin and is called a ‘Satoshi’, after the founder of bitcoin).
沒(méi)錯(cuò)战得，就是這樣∮雇疲“比特幣協(xié)議”-比特幣的制造規(guī)則規(guī)定, 只能有2100萬(wàn)枚比特幣被礦工創(chuàng)建常侦。然而，這些幣能被分割成更小的部分（最小的分割數(shù)是一比特幣的百萬(wàn)分之一贬媒，被稱為“Satoshi”,這是來(lái)自比特幣的創(chuàng)始人的名字）聋亡。
What is bitcoin based on?
比特幣建立于什么基礎(chǔ)上？
Conventional currency has been based on gold or silver. Theoretically, you knew that if you handed over a dollar at the bank, you could get some gold back (although this didn’t actually work in practice). But bitcoin isn’t based on gold; it’s based on mathematics.
Around the world, people are using software programs that follow a mathematical formula to produce bitcoins. The mathematical formula is freely available, so that anyone can check it.
The software is also open source, meaning that anyone can look at it to make sure that it does what it is supposed to.
傳統(tǒng)的貨幣被建立在黃金或白銀的基礎(chǔ)之上际乘。理論上坡倔，你知道，如果你交給銀行一美元脖含，你能夠拿回一些相應(yīng)的黃金（僅管這在實(shí)際中并不被真實(shí)的操作）罪塔。但比特幣不是基于黃金；它是基于數(shù)學(xué)之上养葵。
在世界各地征堪，人們正在使用遵循一個(gè)數(shù)學(xué)公式的軟件程序生產(chǎn)比特幣。這個(gè)數(shù)學(xué)公式可以免費(fèi)獲得关拒，所以任何人都可以檢查它佃蚜。
這個(gè)軟件也是開(kāi)放源代碼的，意思是任何人可以看到它夏醉，以確保這個(gè)軟件執(zhí)行它應(yīng)該做的爽锥。
What are its characteristics?
它有哪些特點(diǎn)？
Bitcoin has several important features that set it apart from government-backed currencies.
比特幣有幾個(gè)重要的特征畔柔，把它和政府擔(dān)保的貨幣區(qū)別開(kāi)來(lái)氯夷。
1. It's decentralized
1.它是分散的
The bitcoin network isn’t controlled by one central authority. Every machine that mines bitcoin and processes transactions makes up a part of the network, and the machines work together. That means that, in theory, one central authority can’t tinker with monetary policy and cause a meltdown – or simply decide to take people’s bitcoins away from them, as the Central European Bank decided to do in Cyprus in early 2013. And if some part of the network goes offline for some reason, the money keeps on flowing.
比特幣網(wǎng)絡(luò)不是被一個(gè)權(quán)力中心控制的。每臺(tái)開(kāi)采比特幣和處理交易的機(jī)器組成了這個(gè)網(wǎng)絡(luò)的一個(gè)部分靶擦，并且這些機(jī)器一起工作腮考。它的意思是說(shuō)雇毫，理論上，一個(gè)權(quán)力中心不能用貨幣政策修改并導(dǎo)致其崩潰 — 或是簡(jiǎn)單的決定從人們那里拿走他們的比特幣踩蔚，就象歐洲銀行在2013年早期在塞浦路斯決定做的那樣棚放。而且如果這個(gè)網(wǎng)絡(luò)的一部分因某些原因離線，這些也錢會(huì)不斷保持流動(dòng)馅闽。
2. It's easy to set up
2.它很容易開(kāi)戶
Conventional banks make youjump through hoopssimply to open a bank account. Setting up merchant accounts for payment is another Kafkaesque task, beset by bureaucracy. However, you can set up a bitcoin address in seconds, no questions asked, and with no fees payable.
傳統(tǒng)的銀行簡(jiǎn)單開(kāi)一個(gè)賬戶就讓你越過(guò)層層關(guān)卡飘蚯。創(chuàng)建一個(gè)可以支付的商業(yè)賬戶是另一個(gè)噩夢(mèng)般的任務(wù)，這被官僚主義困擾福也。然而局骤，你可以在幾秒內(nèi)開(kāi)設(shè)一個(gè)比特幣地址，沒(méi)有任何問(wèn)題問(wèn)你暴凑，且沒(méi)有任何費(fèi)用支付峦甩。
3. It's anonymous
3.它是匿名的
Well, kind of. Users can hold multiple bitcoin addresses, and they aren’t linked to names, addresses, or other personally identifying information. However…
這么好！用戶可以保持多個(gè)比特幣地址现喳，并且他們不關(guān)聯(lián)到名稱凯傲、地址或其它的個(gè)人識(shí)別信息。然而......
（待續(xù)......）
