VOA常速英語：比特幣價(jià)格跌去一半

Bitcoin Loses Half of Its Value

比特幣價(jià)格跌去一半

The price of Bitcoin dropped below $10,000 on Wednesday.

比特幣價(jià)格周三跌到了1萬美元以下。

Bitcoin is the world's best-known cryptocurrency. But, it has lost half of its value from the record price set last month.

比特幣是全球最知名的加密貨幣。但是，它已經(jīng)從上個(gè)月創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的價(jià)格跌下來了一半。

The digital currency was valued at over $19,000 last December. On Wednesday, Bloomberg financial service said the price dropped to about $9,600.

去年12月，這種數(shù)字貨幣的價(jià)格超過了1.9萬美元。周三，彭博金融服務(wù)稱它的價(jià)格跌到了9600美元左右。

Charles Hayter is a founder of Cryptocompare, a business that owns cryptocurrencies. He told Reuters, "There is a lot of panic in the market. People are selling." He said the fall in the value of bitcoin is related to uncertainty about whether governments will try to set rules for its use.

Charles Hayter是Cryptocompare公司的創(chuàng)始人，這是一家持有加密貨幣的公司。他對(duì)路透社表示，“市場很恐慌，人們都在甩賣。”他表示，比特幣價(jià)格下跌跟政府是否會(huì)試圖制定其使用規(guī)則這種不確定性有關(guān)。

Bitcoin is different from national currencies, which are supported by governments and central banks. Bitcoin is stored as a line of computer code. It is not printed on paper or something you can hold like a coin.

比特幣不同于政府或央行背書的國家貨幣，它被儲(chǔ)存為一行計(jì)算機(jī)代碼，而不是印在紙上或硬幣之類可以持有的東西。

Computers keep a global record of how each bitcoin is exchanged so that ownership and transactions can be confirmed.

眾多計(jì)算機(jī)會(huì)保存每枚比特幣交易的全球記錄，這樣所有權(quán)和交易就可以得以確認(rèn)。

Last week, the South Korean government said that it is considering measures to ban trading of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. Officials also are expected to debate the rise of bitcoin at the upcoming G20 summit, a meeting of the world's major economic powers, in Argentina in March.

韓國政府上周表示正考慮采取措施禁止比特幣之類的加密貨幣的交易。在三月份即將在阿根廷主辦的主要由世界經(jīng)濟(jì)強(qiáng)國參加的G20峰會(huì)上，預(yù)計(jì)有關(guān)官員也會(huì)討論比特幣的興起。

Wild price swings

劇烈價(jià)格波動(dòng)

In January 2017, one bitcoin was worth around $1,000.

2017年1月，一枚比特幣的價(jià)格在1千美元左右。

In April, the Japanese government recognized bitcoin as a legal currency for settlement of debts. As Venezuela's national currency loses value, Venezuelans have increasingly turned to bitcoin for daily use. And North Korean computer hackers are believed to be stealing bitcoins from exchanges in South Korea.

到了四月份，日本政府承認(rèn)比特幣是解決債務(wù)的合法貨幣。隨著委內(nèi)瑞拉貨幣貶值，委內(nèi)瑞拉人已經(jīng)越來越傾向于日常使用比特幣。另外拒信朝鮮黑客從韓國交易所竊取比特幣。

The digital currency reached its highest level in December after the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission permitted trading in bitcoin futures. Futures are financial agreements for trading valuable property at set prices.

在美國商品期貨交易委員會(huì)允許比特幣期貨上市交易之后，這種數(shù)字貨幣的價(jià)格在12月份達(dá)到了其頂峰。期貨是一種以預(yù)先確定價(jià)格交易有價(jià)財(cái)產(chǎn)的金融協(xié)議。

Warren Buffett is an influential American investor and one of the richest men in the world. Last week, he warned: "In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending."

巴菲特是美國最有影響力的投資者，也是全球最富有的人之一。他上周警告說：“就加密貨幣而言，我?guī)缀蹩梢钥隙ǖ卣f，它們將會(huì)陷入一個(gè)糟糕的結(jié)局。”

Some observers say the recent drop in value shows that bitcoin was overpriced. Others welcome government rules and expect the extreme price changes to continue.

一些觀察人士表示，比特幣最近價(jià)格下跌表明它估值過高。還有人歡迎政府出臺(tái)規(guī)定，并期待這種極端價(jià)格變化能夠繼續(xù)下去。

The price of bitcoin has dropped before. Marc Singer is an adviser with the investment company Singer Xenos. He noted that bitcoin lost 93 percent of its value in 2011 and half its value in 2015.

比特幣價(jià)格以前也有過下跌。Marc Singer是Singr Xenos投資公司的一名顧問。他指出，2011年比特幣貶值了93%，2015年比特幣貶值了一半。

Christopher Keshian is with the APEX Token Fund, an investment group. He told Reuters that the sharp change in value "is an expected, and important, part of the journey to becoming" an accepted asset. He expected sharp changes in value to continue and that the price of bitcoin would rise again.

Christopher Keshian就職于APEX Token Fund這家投資集團(tuán)。他對(duì)路透社表示，比特幣價(jià)格的急劇變化是“成為一種常規(guī)資產(chǎn)的過程中可以預(yù)料到的重要步驟。”他預(yù)計(jì)比特幣價(jià)格的急劇變化還會(huì)繼續(xù)下去，同時(shí)比特幣價(jià)格還會(huì)再次上漲。

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that experts at Citi, an American financial company, said bitcoin could lose half of its value again, to about $5,000.

路透社周三報(bào)道稱，美國花旗金融集團(tuán)的專家表示，比特幣價(jià)值還會(huì)跌去一半，跌到5千美元左右。

I'm Jonathan Evans.

喬納森·埃文斯報(bào)道。