The end of cash - Kill bills

现金的终结——消灭纸币

The Future of Money.By Eswar Prasad.

《货币的未来》，作者：埃斯瓦尔.普拉萨德。

For most people, money still means physical cash printed by a sole, public authority.

对大多数人来说，钱仍然意味着由唯一的政府当局印制的实体货币。

Yet that is a surprisingly modern incarnation: only a century ago, private currencies competed with government-issued banknotes.

不过，这其实是一个出人意料的现代观念：就在一个世纪前，私人货币还在与政府发行的纸币相互竞争。

It may be short-lived, too, as cash succumbs to the digitalisation of finance and new means of payment take over.

这种想法可能也会是短暂的，因为现金在给金融数字化让路，被新的支付方式所取代。

This big bang will have huge implications for states, people and companies.

这场重大变革将对国家、个人和企业产生巨大影响。

Whether it does more good than harm, says Eswar Prasad,

埃斯瓦尔.普拉萨德表示，这样做是否利大于弊，

depends on the world's dowdiest institutions — central banks — embracing change without losing control.

取决于世界上最不新潮的机构——央行——能否在不失控的情况下去拥抱变化。

That cash is declining may not surprise readers.

现金的衰落或许不会使读者感到惊讶。

Many will bank from laptops and make payments on their phones.

许多人都用电脑存款，用手机支付。

Financial innovation is old news, too.

金融创新也已是旧时新闻。

One of the first "fintech" breakthroughs happened centuries ago,

最早的“金融科技”突破之一发生在几个世纪前，

when China helped engineer a boom in Asian commerce by introducing paper currency to replace metal coins, which were heavy and scarce.

当时中国通过引入纸币来取代沉重又稀缺的金属硬币，帮助推动了亚洲商业的繁荣。

Yet this time is different, Mr Prasad insists.

然而，普拉萨德坚称这次有所不同。

Previous overhauls mainly improved existing systems, he notes.

他指出，之前的改革，主要是对现有的系统进行改善。

The end of cash — likely within a decade or two — is revolutionary.

而现金的终结——可能在一二十年内发生——是革命性的。

Three types of disruptive agents are involved, he says.

他表示，这涉及到三类具有颠覆性影响的机构。

The first are fintech firms, a varied group that all have a big online presence and a knack for crunching data.

第一类是金融科技公司，这是一个多元化的群体，它们都有着庞大的在线业务，并精通数据处理。

Their onslaught differs from previous,isolated breakthroughs — such as the debit card or the ATM — because it targets every facet of financial markets and institutions,from lending and payments to investment.

它们带来的冲击不同于以往的逐个击破（如借记卡或自动取款机），因为它面向金融市场和机构的方方面面，从贷款、支付到投资。

All the same, they are not imposing regime change.

尽管如此，他们并没有强行更迭体系。

Banks remain dominant.

银行仍然占据主导地位。

Bitcoin, and the many other digital monies it has inspired, could bring about a more fundamental shift.

比特币，以及它催生的许多其他数字货币，可能会带来更根本的改变。

By enlisting a network of users to validate transactions, they make payments possible without the need for a trusted, central authority.

通过招募用户网络来验证交易，数字货币使在没有可信的中央机构的情况下支付成为可能。

Mr Prasad doubts decentralised money — less safe, stable and efficient — will ever trump its official cousin.

普拉萨德怀疑，分散的货币——不那么安全、稳定和高效——永远不会超过它的官方同胞。

But he warns that the technology involved is being co-opted by big corporations, such as Facebook; with their billions of users and financial clout,

但他警告称，其中所涉及的技术正被Facebook等大公司所利用；凭借它们数十亿的用户和金融影响力，

they could make private currencies an attractive means of exchange and store of value.

大公司可以使私人货币成为一种诱人的交易和保值手段。

文章来源：中英双语外刊阅读