【洞见】关注金融科技的发展应用，金融界特邀前沿专家，对话科技，预见未来！

　　本期嘉宾：Gina Pieters芝加哥大学教授区块链“行业女王”

　　区块链将推动金融服务升级数字化基础设施

　　金融界：数字货币是区块链技术早期的应用领域之一，您认为这种应用能够很好地反映区块链技术的特点吗？区块链技术将如何影响金融体系？

　　Gina C Pieters：相对于其他数据，区块链的优势在于不需要使用中心化的监管来验证和为数据的真实性背书。数字货币作为区块链的应用很好地体现了这一点。

　　区块链会促使金融服务机构来重新评估现有的数字化基础设施。即便他们还没有采用区块链，但任何实施的更新都会推动行业向前发展。具体而言，金融服务机构中存在许多用来验证交易真实性的中介，而区块链会降低这些金融中介存在的必要性。

　　数字货币交易抗风险能力有待提高

　　金融界：数字货币交易的有效监管一直是各国政府面对的共同问题，美国一些地区最近甚至颁布了对数字货币的禁令。在您看来，数字货币交易和传统的支付手段相比，具有哪些优势和风险？有必要实行严格的监管吗？

　　Gina C Pieters：数字货币市场面对的风险和其他金融市场是相似的，不同的是数字货币的风险防范措施更少。在数字货币市场中，用于防范欺诈和身份冒用的政府监管同样有益。基于区块链的交易较为独特的一点，在于记录在区块链上的数据不容易被调整或删除（除非被损坏）。这意味着即使在出错或者对结果不满意时，交易也不可能被取消或者撤销。政府监管在这方面无能为力。

　　数字身份与去中心化系统加大监管难度

　　金融界：区块链的数字身份会给监管带来难度吗？区块链时代的监管应该包含哪些必需因素？数字货币有许多特性，可在它变得易用的同时，也很容易被某些不良因素利用。我们应该如何防范这种情况的发生？

　　Gina C Pieters：区块链本身不需要用户在创建账户时提交真实身份。如果你在谈论数据体系的现状，那么它的确使对犯罪活动的调查搜证变得更加困难了，因为缺乏可以追踪或者把握的实体，同时跨越中介的能力意味着交易过程中包括的人更少，参与者也更加全球化。在缺乏全球协议的情况下，区块链的全球化现实使它更难监管。

　　去中心化是使比特币区别于早期电子货币的特征，这意味着比特币体系不存在监管主体。由于没有中心化主体，政府就无法监管这个系统。一些数字货币更加中心化，会被政府监管——例如，政府会强制Facebook去验证注册Calibra钱包的用户的身份。这些要求对比特币是无效的。但是一些政府会对外汇强加限制，这是许多人即使在外汇不被严格限制的情况下也会选择交易比特币的原因。

　　稳定币与自由浮动之选

　　金融界：您曾提到在数字货币的市场上，美元、日元和韩元占有主要的地位。那么比特币的波动会对这三种货币产生巨大的影响吗？如果人们未来使用数字货币，可能会以哪种主权货币作为基准？

　　Gina C Pieters：虽然以上三种货币在数字货币的交易中占有很大的份额，但从整体来看，数字与这三个经济体相关联的交易并不多，因此不会对主权货币造成太大的冲击。

　　如果未来的人们使用数字货币，我们不能确定这种货币的锚货币是什么。我们可以创造盯住预设货币或资产的“稳定币“，或者不依托于任何其他货币的自由浮动货币。稳定币需要中心化的系统来维持它的联系，但使它有受政府监管的嫌疑；自由浮动的货币受政府影响较小，但波动性会更大。

　　对话实录

　　JRJ：We understand that cryptocurrency is one of the earliest applications of block chain technology. Do you think this application perfectly reflects the characteristics of block chain technology？ What other scenario applications of block chain technology do you think include？ How will blockchain technology affect the financial industry？ Is it possible that blockchain will reshape our financial service industry？When can we expect a large-scale application of blockchain technology in the financial industry？

　　Gina C Pieters：Relative to other data structures， blockchain's benefit is that there is no need for an authority to verify/approve data. Digital money is one obvious application of this.

　　Blockchain may spark many financial service firms to reevaluate their current digital infrastructure， and even though they don't adopt a blockchain any updates they implement will help the industry. More directly， there are several intermediaries in the financial service industry that exist to verify transactions: blockchain may reduce the need for such intermediaries.

　　　　JRJ：Effective regulation of cryptocurrency trading is a common problem for governments around the world， with some parts of the United States recently even calling for a ban on cryptocurrencies. In your opinion，what are the advantages and risks of cryptocurrency transactions compared with traditional payment methods？Is strict government regulation necessary？

　　Gina C Pieters：The risk is similar to other financial markets --- except there are fewer established recourses if something goes wrong. Government regulation in cases of fraud or misrepresentation would be as helpful in cryptocurrency markets as they are in any other financial market. A unique aspect of blockchain-based transactions is that data recorded on a blockchain can usually not be modified or deleted （unless the blockchain has been compromised）. This means that it is not feasible to cancel or undo a transaction if you make an error or are unsatisfied with the result. Government regulation cannot really help with this aspect.

　　JRJ：Does the digital identity of the Blockchain bring difficulties for regulation？What is the necessary elements regulation in Blockchain Era should include？Crypto money has many characteristics. It is easy to be used by undesirable elements at the same time as it becomes convenient. So how should we prevent such things from happening？ What do people or government need to do？

　　Gina C Pieters：I don't know if understand question 4: A blockchain does not inherently require that users submit their "true" identity prior to establishing an account. If you were asking about the digital nature: The digital nature of blockchain does make it finding evidence of criminal activity harder as there is nothing physical to track or seize， and the ability to bypass intermediaries means that fewer individuals need to be involved in processing transactions. It also globalizes the location of participants. The international nature of blockchain makes it hard to regulate without a global agreement.

　　JRJ: You mentioned that the market is highly concentrated in just three currencies -Dollar， Won and Yen. So will the fluctuation of Bitcoin have a greater impact on these three currencies？ If people start to use crypto money in the future， which currency will be based on？

　　Gina C Pieters：While those three currencies comprised a large share of the trades， the sie of the trade relative to the size of those three economies is small so it should not have a large impact.

　　If people use a cryptocurrency in the future it's not clear what currency it will be based on. On one hand， you have "stablecoins"， which are pegged to pre-existing currencies or assets， or you could have a free-floating crypto that is not inherently based on any one currency. Stablecoins require a centralized system to maintain their peg， which makes them more susceptible to government regulations. Free-floating cryptos are less susceptible to government regulation but are also more volative.