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思维导图：
Angela， 心之所向，无问西东
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Leaders | GENIUS inspiration
经济学人社论｜灵光一现，《天才法案》上线
英文部分选自经济学人20250823期社论板块
Leaders | GENIUS inspiration
经济学人社论｜灵光一现，《天才法案》上线
The world should follow Trump’s lead on stablecoins
世界应当追随特朗普的稳定币政策
With the right rules, innovation could flourish
合理的监管能够带来创新的勃发
America’s new law on stablecoins is so good, “They named it after me,” joked President Donald Trump as he signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act on July 18th. While the administration and the crypto industry celebrate the dawn of a golden age, the mood across the Atlantic is darker. Stablecoins, tokens backed by conventional assets, are seen as scammy, deeply destabilising—or both. Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, has warned commercial banks against issuing their own coins. Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank (ecb), cautions that stablecoins could become private money that risks one day dislodging central banks.
7月18日，美国总统特朗普签署《美国稳定币国家创新引导与确立法案》（简称“天才法案”）时戏言道，美国稳定币新法案非常完美，“跟我一样‘天才’”。美国政府和加密货币行业欢庆黄金时代来临之际，大西洋彼岸却笼罩着阴霾。在那里，尽管稳定币有传统资产为支撑，仍然被视作诈骗工具或者不稳定因素，甚至兼而有之。英国央行行长安德鲁·贝利（Andrew Bailey）已警告商业银行不得发行自有代币。欧洲央行行长克里斯蒂娜·拉加德（Christine Lagarde）则警示，稳定币可能演变为私人货币，或将动摇央行根基。
In fact, the rest of the world should swallow its doubts and follow America. Stablecoins hold out the potential for much-needed innovations in the world’s payment systems. If they are regulated well—as the genius Act promises—that dream has a chance to be realised.
其实，世界各国应当放下疑虑，追随美国的步伐。稳定币有望为全球支付体系带来亟需的创新突破。如果稳定币像《天才法案》所规定的那样受到恰当的监管，这一愿景将有望实现。
Make no mistake, crypto is rife with scams. Many coins are a get-rich-quick scheme—and one in which the president, his family and friends have all flagrantly indulged. Mr Trump’s holdings of $TRUMP, a “meme coin” magicked out of thin air, are worth $1.9bn. Stablecoins are different. Not only are they typically backed by liquid dollar assets, including short-term Treasuries and bank deposits, they could also turn out to be genuinely useful.
诚然，加密货币骗局丛生。许多代币不过是快速致富的手段，特朗普及其亲友也曾公然从中获利。特朗普持有的“TRUMP”币是一种互联网“梗币”，完全凭空产生，现在估值却高达19亿美元。但稳定币截然不同，通常由短期国债和银行存款等高流动性美元资产作为价值支撑，并且可能真正发挥实用价值。
Dollar stablecoins gained attention in countries such as Turkey and Nigeria, where trust in the government is low and fears about runaway inflation and expropriation linger. In the West they have largely operated in the unregulated shadows. By requiring issuers to be registered and setting out clear rules on reserve requirements and disclosures, the genius Act should pave the way for more experimentation in America.
美元稳定币在土耳其与尼日利亚等国家受到了广泛关注。这些国家的民众对本国政府的信任度低，且长期受困于恶性通胀与资产被没收的恐惧。在西方国家，美元稳定币大部分运作于不受监管的暗处之中。《天才法案》要求稳定币发行机构进行注册，并在储备金与信息披露方面制定了明确规定，预计可以为美国展开更多试验铺平道路。
The prize could be large. Because stablecoin transactions are recorded instantaneously on digital ledgers, the technology allows retail and cross-border payments to be settled in minutes rather than days, and to be completed at a fraction of the fee charged by banks and card issuers. An international wire costing more than $15 or a credit-card fee of up to 2% of the transaction’s value could be replaced by a stablecoin transaction costing less than ten cents. According to Standard Chartered, a bank, the issuance of stablecoins could rise from around $260bn to $2trn by 2028; Stripe, a fintech firm, is thought to be considering issuing its own tokens.
这些试验可能取得丰硕的成果。因为稳定币交易会在数字账本上被实时记录，所以依托稳定币进行的零售交易与跨境支付不用再等上好几天，几分钟就能完成，并且只要很少的手续费。在传统跨境支付中，银行与发卡机构可能要分别收取超过15美元的国际电汇手续费和高达交易金额2%的信用卡付款费，但如果使用稳定币，手续费可能还不到10美分。渣打银行的数据预测，到2028年，稳定币的发行量可能会从当前的2600亿美元增长至2万亿美元。有消息称，金融科技公司Stripe也在考虑发行自己的稳定币。
Does such promise justify the risks? Many regulators, especially in Europe, worry that the answer is no. They fear that stablecoins could displace central-bank money, cripple the banking system and increase the danger of destabilising runs. However, some of these risks are overblown and, as America’s new law shows, others can be mitigated.
如此光明的前景是否可以证明冒些风险也是值得的呢？许多监管机构认为并非如此，尤其是欧洲的监管机构。它们担心稳定币会取代央行货币，损害银行体系，并增加因不稳定因素而引发挤兑的风险。但部分风险因素被夸大了，正如美国新颁布的法律所表示，其他风险是可以被减轻的。
Take first the threat of competition with central banks. The worry is that “private”, less-safe money could undermine the public sort. It is likely to be felt most by the ecb, which has been laying the groundwork for a digital euro since November 2023, partly in order to challenge the dominance of Visa and Mastercard, two American financial giants. But stablecoins will continue to be fully backed by assets denominated in public money. There is no reason why the central bank should have a monopoly over payment innovations if a euro stablecoin could prove more useful.
首先便是与央行分庭抗礼的威胁。人们担忧安全系数低的“私人”货币会削弱公共货币的地位。欧央行的担忧最深，其自2023年11月以来一直在为推出数字欧元作准备，一定程度上是为了对抗维萨与万事达这两家美国金融巨头的主导地位。但是，支撑稳定币的资产仍然是以公共货币计价的。如果事实证明欧元稳定币更实用，那么央行没有理由垄断支付创新。
What of the risks to commercial banks? The worry is that stablecoins will pull deposits from lenders, raising their cost of funding and narrowing their scope to lend to the real economy. Yet stablecoins will not vaporise deposits so much as move them around. Money will flow from a customer’s bank to the stablecoin issuer. It will either be stashed in the issuer’s bank account, or used to buy government debt. As the state in turn spends the cash, it will pay its workers and suppliers, returning money to bank deposits. Moreover, banks themselves stand to gain business from stablecoins’ Big Bang if they start managing issuers’ reserves or issuing coins of their own.
商业银行会面临哪些风险？人们担心稳定币会从银行吸走存款，抬高银行的融资成本，并压缩其向实体经济放贷的空间。但实际上，稳定币并不会让存款凭空消失，而只是把钱转移了。资金会从客户的银行账户流向稳定币发行方，这些资金要么存在发行方的银行账户里，要么被用来购买政府债券。随着政府再把这笔钱花出去，支付给公务员和供应商，资金又会回流到银行存款中。而且，银行本身也可能从稳定币的“爆发式增长”中获益，比如替发行方管理储备金，或者干脆自己发行稳定币。
A run on a huge stablecoin issuer, meanwhile, could cause disruption if it leads to a fire sale of assets, rather as a run on money-market funds caused havoc in 2008. But this danger could be mitigated by ensuring that stablecoins are fully backed by safe, liquid assets, and submit regular disclosures on their holdings—precisely as the genius Act sets out to do for any domestic issuer.
与此同时，如果一家大型稳定币发行商受到挤兑，可能会因为被迫低价抛售资产而引发市场动荡，就像2008年货币市场基金挤兑时造成的混乱一样。但通过完善监管可以缓解挤兑风险，比如要求稳定币以稳健、高流动性资产进行全面支撑，并定期披露持仓情况，这正是《天才法案》为任何本土发行机构所设定的要求。
Like countless technologies, the stablecoin revolution could yet come to nothing. But it is better for entrepreneurs to try and fail, than for regulators to set today’s system in stone and stop promising innovations from being pursued at all. Time to take inspiration from Mr Trump’s genius Act.
和无数技术一样，稳定币革命最终也可能一事无成。但与其让监管者把当今的体系钉死不变，从而彻底扼杀有潜力的创新，不如让创业者去尝试、哪怕失败。是时候从特朗普的天才《天才法案》中汲取灵感了。
翻译组：
Charlie，剃刀边缘无比锋利
Yo，女，种下过流星，立志不做大鸵鸟
Benjamin，初学翻译，爱红酒，爱美食
审校组：
Rex，The one who widens your English~
风筝，热爱生活热爱翻译热爱搞钱热爱猫咪
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