Original Title: Chen Xiaohua, Digital Economist: Eight Risks of Virtual Currency
Xinhua Finance, Beijing, January 9th. There are four main reasons why Bitcoin has exploded and even exceeded $40,000. First of all, Bitcoin was launched on the occasion of the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. As time goes by, its ecology has become more perfect.investmentPeople can also buy Bitcoin through a variety of legal channels. Bitcoin’s mining capacity has also gradually stabilized, and due to technical reasons, its total amount is controlled at 21 million, and there will be no over-distribution and abuse detection phenomena, and inflation can be prevented, so it will not depreciate, causing To a certain degree of scarcity, this provides the basis for this year’s rise.
In addition, Bitcoin is recognized by many authoritative institutions. Financial institutions and celebrities in the investment community have bought large amounts of Bitcoin. Since the second half of 2020, not only have dozens of NYSE listed companies one after anotherthe companyAnnounced holding Bitcoin.The third point is that under the epidemic environment, governments of various countries have caused economiccurrencyOver-issuance is serious, especially the U.S. dollar, so people need to seek assets that counter the over-issuance of the U.S. dollar. Relatively speaking, Bitcoin is a so-called world-wide sovereignHedgeValue-addedInvestment goods, Once again caused investors to rush to raise funds.And because of the investment channels andproductLimited, and the global monetary policy releases liquidity on a large scale. This kind ofmarketIn the monetary easing cycle,Cash flowMobility has greatly increased, and people’s hedging needs have also increased. So relatively speaking, some people call Bitcoin “digital gold”, and some people say that it is the mainstream of digital assets in the future, and it has even become the mainstream. Such a concept makes the room for upward expansion again.
Even if the value of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies is optimistic by many parties in the future, investors need to realize that whether it is investment transactions or the use of virtual currencies, they need to consider their various risks.
1. “Illegal” risk. As a special kind of virtual currency that may have an impact on the financial order and the country’s macro-financial policy, or even cause an impactProductIn recent years, Chinese government departments have gradually increased their management and regulation of virtual currencies.Especially relying onthe InternetBlockchainBitcoin generated by technology, after some countries have recognized the currency nature of Bitcoin, the Chinese peoplebank, The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other financial regulatory agencies and Internet regulatory agencies still very clearly define that Bitcoin is a special commodity like other virtual currencies, and it is necessary to strengthen the prevention of virtual currency risks.
2. “Security” risks. The issuance, transaction and use of virtual currency cannot be separated from the Internet, but the issue of virtual currencybusinessThe website cannot be indestructible, even the extremely secure Bitcoin cannot be 100% safe, and virtual currency exchanges are mixed, traders should be aware of the hidden security risks behind it. Threats to network security mainly come from three aspects: external attacks, system failures, and internal faults or destruction.
3. The risk of “counterfeit currency”. The currencies of all countries, whether metal currency or paper currency, have hidden risks of being counterfeited or forged. In reality, they are forged and altered.RMBCases have occurred frequently, and there have also been cases where cash-counting paper, white paper and even bricks were used to counterfeit real banknotes. Tangible currency can be counterfeited or counterfeited, and intangible virtual currency may also be counterfeited or counterfeited due to its open source and concealment. Therefore, the “fidelity” risk is also a realistic risk that cannot be ignored in virtual currency.
Fourth, the risk of “discretion of confidentiality”, virtual currency has better confidentiality due to its intangible advantages, but at the same time the openness of the Internet also brings the aforementioned fraud, forgery and risks to virtual currency issuers, trading platforms and virtual currency users. The resulting risk of loss of confidentiality, alone or concomitantly. The risks in this area include the risk of batch leaks and individual leaks.
5. “Subject” risk, commercial subject asenterpriseLegal persons have a normal life cycle, and there may be dissolution, bankruptcy,M&AReorganizationSuch legal risks will bring major risks to the virtual currency system and virtual currency business.
6. “Devaluation” risk, virtual currency issuance of businesscreditAs a basis, it is basically classified as a special commodity by the monetary authorities of various countries, and it is required not to be linked to legal tender, and usually cannot be exchanged with legal tender.This kind of one-way flow of institutional arrangements, coupled with the lack of stabilization by the legal currency anchor, can easily produce market operations, leading to virtual currencypriceExcessive volatility and “devaluation” have become one of the important risks of virtual currencies.
7. “Money laundering” risk, even if virtual currency is defined as a special commodity, this special commodity can be implemented as a substitute for currency in a certain area and scopeValue scaleThe functions of the means of circulation, means of payment, and money laundering risks associated with financial institutions and currencies also exist in the virtual currency system. And because of the intangibility and anonymity of virtual currency transactions, the wide range of use, the diversity of capital injection methods, the possibility of obtaining cash, the division of services, the speed and irrevocability of transactions, and the identification and use of virtual currency for money laundering The difficulty of the transaction, the complexity of the transaction model and other characteristics, its money laundering risk is relatively high.
8. “Informed” risk. Virtual currency is a special commodity, and the use of virtual currency is a special consumer behavior, which should be regulated by the Consumer Protection Law and other relevant laws.From the perspective of the right to know, virtual currency issuers and trading platforms shouldGuaranteeVirtual currency users’ right to know enables them to master the basic knowledge of virtual currency, understand the basic procedures and operating points of the use of virtual currency, and if the virtual currency issuer and trading platform fail to fulfill the necessary prompting obligations, they must bear consumer rights and interests The illegal obligations under the protection law are serious and may even constitute fraud. (Author Chen Xiaohua, director of the Institute of Financial Technology, National University Science Park, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications,China MobileCommunications Federation Blockchain MajorCommitteeChairman)
(Source: Xinhua Finance)
(Editor in charge: DF398)
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