翻译时间：2017-10-22
Whereas previous generations of technology delivered the same objectives faster, blockchain has the potential to entirely change how businesses function 前几代技术是为更快地实现相同的业务目标，而区块链则可能完全改变企业的业务功能
Blockchain and associated ‘initial coin offerings’ (ICO) are receiving increasing attention from companies, governments, venture capitalists and developers alike. Often viewed as a radical new technology that can redefine everything from financing for entrepreneurs to management of supply chains, blockchain has attracted as many supporters as sceptics. But little real economic work has yet been done on blockchain �– so in this article, I’m going to discuss two main economic implications that myself and my colleague Dr Zeynep Gurguc have been investigating deeply: 1) the impact of blockchain on the boundaries of the firm, and 2) the impact on entrepreneurial finance through ICOs.
区块链和ICO正受到公司、政府、风险投资家和开发者越来越多的关注。 作为一种激进的新技术，区块链可以重新定义，从企业家融资到供应链管理的方方面面，它吸引了众多的支持者，也吸引了众多的怀疑论者。 但是，有关区块链在经济上的作用，还少有讨论。 - 在这篇文章中，我将讨论两个主要经济影响，我和我的同事Zeynep Gurguc博士深入研究过，1）区块链对公司边界的影响 2）ICO对企业融资的影响，
We may best view blockchain as the continuation of a process of digitalisation within the global economy that has been ongoing since the 1960s. While previous digital technologies have been applied to improve business processes, they have generally been aimed at delivering the same objectives faster, e.g. the digitalising of back office services. As RH Coase put it in 1937, “innovations such as the telephone and telegraph, which tend to bring the factors of production nearer together, by lessening spatial distribution, tend to increase the size of the firm”. Previous generations of technology were therefore about the faster and more secure exchange of information. It is without doubt that digital technologies have in many cases enabled the ‘hollowing out’ of the firm, but continued the increasing reach of multinational organisations at lower costs.
我们可以将区块链看着，自1960年代以来，一直持续的全球经济数字化进程的延续。 区块链之前的技术，主要应用于改进业务流程，其主要目的是为更快的实现相同业务目标，例如， 后台服务的数字化。 正如RH科斯在1937年提出的那样，“电话和电报等技术创新，通过减少空间来往，使生产要素更接近，增加了企业规模”。 因此，前几代的技术主要是如何使信息交换更快、更安全。 毫无疑问，数字技术在很多情况下，能够使公司“中空化”，以较低的成本，持续扩大在全球的覆盖面。
Blockchain, meanwhile, is about the exchange of value; it is intended to enable individuals to exchange currency and other assets with one another without relying on a third party to manage the contracts and transactions. Many people discuss blockchain from the perspective of ‘removing intermediaries’, citing examples such as bitcoin, which removes the need for central banks and shows trust in a currency can instead be created through a distributed network of nodes. Transactions are ‘trusted’ by the implementation of radical transparency: every transaction is publicly verifiable, and protected by cryptography and the solving of complex mathematical problems.
相比之下，区块链是交换价值; 旨在使个人能够彼此交换货币和其他资产，而不依赖第三方管理合同和交易。 许多人从“消除中介”的角度讨论区块链，引用比特币等例子，比特币消除对中央银行的依赖，通过分布式网络节点来实现货币交易中的信任。 极度的透明，使“交易”实现“信任”：每个交易都是可公开验证的，并通过加密和解决复杂的数学问题进行保护。
Newer implementations of blockchain such as Ethereum and Hyperledger offer companies and individuals the ability to create ‘contracts’ with one another, in principle reducing transaction costs and enabling a multitude of new business models to be created rapidly and in some cases dynamically or on the fly. Most importantly, these contracts can be established between individual creators and workers – not just large companies.
Ethereum和Hyperledger等新一代的区块链技术，为公司和个人提供了与他人之间，创建智能合约的能力，从而可以降低交易成本，并能够快速创建大量新业务模型，在某些情况下，是动态或即时创建。 最重要的是，智能合约可以由个体创造者和工人之间建立，而不仅仅是大公司。
In the US, VC financing is dominated by three main cities: Boston, New York and San Francisco 在美国，风险投资主要集中在波士顿，纽约和旧金山三大城市
Blockchain presents us with something a little different from previous generations of technology therefore: the opportunity for entrepreneurs to work as individuals and coordinate economic exchanges of work and currency with one another in even large scale projects rather than needing the boundary of a ‘firm’ at all. Entrepreneurial activity could be orchestrated via a blockchain through removing the complexity of multiple contract negotiations.
区块链与前几代技术有些不同之处：创业者有机会以个人身份工作，在大型项目中协调一致地，相互交换经济利益和货币，而根本不需要一个公司。 创业活动可以通过区块链，免除多个合同谈判的复杂性。
It is our belief that today’s economists may soon find themselves in the same situation as DH Robertson, Ronald Coase and Mrs Robinson: trying to ascertain how coordination activities are occurring in an emerging digital economy and carefully assessing how the “lumps of butter form in the milk” around blockchain-enabled services. As a result, we must constantly return to Mrs Robinson’s questions: 1) are our theories tractable, and 2) are they reflected in the real world?
我们相信，今天的经济学家可能很快会发现自己处于与罗伯逊，罗纳德·科斯和罗宾逊相同的情况：试图确定新兴数字经济中的协调活动是如何发生的，并仔细评估区块链服务周围“ 牛奶中的黄油块“然后形成。 因此，我们必须不断地回到罗宾逊的问题：1）我们的理论是否易于理解，2）它们是否体现在现实世界中？
While blockchain does not itself challenge the theories of transaction costs or the boundaries of the firm, we can certainly see the way the real world is managing them because of blockchain is under rapid change. The most efficient boundary of the firm is shifting and we may enter a period where the price mechanism can be handled cost efficiently at the level of the individual, rather than the level of the firm. This undoubtedly has an impact on when, how and why a government would regulate certain activities an area our group is working extensively on. We are already seeing governments struggling to respond to ICOs despite them already having a large impact on entrepreneurial financing.
虽然区块链本身并不挑战交易成本或企业界限的理论，但我们可以看到现实世界管理它们的方式，因为区块链，正在迅速变化。 公司最有效的边界正在转变，我们可能会进入一个新的时代，价格机制可以在个人层面起作用，而不是企业层面。 这无疑对政府管理进行活动的时间、方式和原因产生冲击，在某些我们广泛涉足的领域。 我们已经看到政府正在努力应对ICO，他们已经对企业融资产生了巨大的影响。
These contracts can be established between individual creators and workers – not just large companies 这些合约可以由个体创造者和工人之间建立，而不仅仅是大公司
An ICO is an unregulated means by which funds can be raised for a new venture. They have so far been used by startups to bypass the regulated capital-raising process required by venture capitalists or banks. Effectively, a percentage of a new cryptocurrency is ‘sold’ to early backers of the project in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies (e..g bitcoin). Examples include using an ICO to manage and control the interactions around transportation, providing decentralised telecommunications networks, or management of solar energy. The early backers receive a ‘token’ that can be used either for delivery in services, or in some cases can be used as a ‘stake’ in the company.
ICO是一种不受管制的手段，通过这种方式可以筹集资金用于创业。 到目前为止，创业公司已经采用这种方式绕过，风险资本或银行所遵守的融资法规。 新加密货币的一部分“出售”给项目的早期支持者，以换取法定货币或其他加密货币（如比特币）。 比如，使用ICO筹集资金来管理和控制交通运输中的交互，提供去中心化的电信网络或者太阳能的管理。 早期支持者，获得可以用于服务交付的“代币”，或者在某些情况下可以作为公司的“股份”。
ICOs are therefore attempting to redefine how individuals and companies develop and attract funding streams, with many people claiming it is a more egalitarian approach to venture capital finance. In the US, for example, VC financing is dominated by three main cities: Boston, New York and San Francisco. Funding is directed by groups of people who are usually white, middle aged men from a certain class of society – or “pale, male and stale”. Reports abound of women and people from minorities being excluded from receiving venture capital, exposing what could possibly be a selection bias.
因此，ICO试图重新定义个人和公司如何发展和吸引资金流，许多人声称它是一种更平等的风险资本融资方式。 例如，在美国，风险投资主要由波士顿，纽约和旧金山三大城市主导。 资金由一群通常是来自某一社会阶层的中年白人男子 - 或“白发、男性和陈旧”的人员所控制。 有很多妇女和少数民族的人被排除在接受风险投资之外，即暴露出什么是选择偏见。
Can ICOs therefore allow a more efficient distribution of resources through our society? There are two aspects to this: first, the distribution of entrepreneurial finance; and second, how tokens redistribute access to physical resources in the world.
因此，ICO可以使我们的社会更有效地分配资源吗？ 这有两个方面：一是创业资金的分配; 二是代币如何重新分配世界上的物理资源。
Blockchain presents us with something a little different from previous generations of technology 区块链向我们展示了与前几代技术一些不同的东西
First, blockchain and ICOs may help us with the selection bias applied by VCs; allowing people and ideas to be funded that would otherwise be left by the wayside. Similarities may be seen in the crowdfunding model, but ICOs permit direct access to working capital for those seeking funding. Governments, however, have started to regulate that ICOs that fail the Howey test must be regulated as securities. This leaves many in a complex situation: it means the tokens need to be treated mainly as ‘use tokens’, i.e. a unit of payment for a service that the ICO provides.
首先，区块链和ICO可能有助于我们应对风险投资机构的选择偏见; 允许人们和想法得到资助，如果没有区块链和ICO，他们会被抛弃。 与众筹模式相似之处，ICO允许为寻求资金的人直接获得营运资金。 然而，各国政府已经开始立法，将ICO作为证券进行监管。 在某种复杂的情况下，这去掉了很多的东西：这意味着代币主要被视为“使用代币”，即ICO提供服务的支付手段。
We may therefore be better viewing tokens and some ICOs as the redistribution of access to physical resources in a distributed manner. This, however, requires deep analysis of not just the technical protocols involved – which is what many start-ups are currently doing – but to also assess the impacts and delivery from an economic perspective. Happily, this is something my team are doing. In collaboration with Outlier Ventures, we are conducting a series of economic experiments that feed directly into token and protocol development. The result will be highly innovative and – most importantly – economically sustainable solutions to the challenges created by initial coin offerings.
我们可以把代币和一些ICO，视作分布式地重新分配物理资源。 然而，这需要深入分析，不仅涉及技术协议 - 这正是许多初创企业目前正在做的工作，而且还要从经济角度评估影响和交付。 幸运的是，这是我的团队正在做的。 与Outlier Ventures合作，我们正在进行一系列代币和协议开发的经济实验。 结果将是高度创新的，最重要的是 - 经济上可持续的解决方案，以应对ICO所产生的挑战。
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