VOA慢速英语--澳大利亚人创造了比特币？

AS IT IS 2016-05-03 Australian Revealed as Creator of Bitcoin? 澳大利亚人创造了比特币？

This is What’s Trending Today:

Do you know who Craig Wright is? Have you ever heard of Satoshi Nakamoto?

Well, if you are a Twitter user, you probably saw both of those names trending on Monday.

But who are they?

Craig Wright is a real person. He is an entrepreneur – someone who invests in businesses – from Australia.

Satoshi Nakamoto is not a real person. But Satoshi Nakamoto is the name many people have used when talking about the person who started the electronic currency called Bitcoin. Names people use to protect their true identities are called psuedonyms.

People have tried for years to find out the real person behind Bitcoin.

Newspapers and magazines have written articles investigating Bitcoin. Reporters have tried to put together clues that might lead to discovering Bitcoin’s founder¹.

But on Monday, Craig Wright told three media organizations that he was the founder of Bitcoin. He talked with the BBC and The Economist² and GQ magazines.

During the meeting with the BBC, Wright did something that no one else but a person involved in the creation of Bitcoin could do. He used something called a cryptographic key to sign some documents.

If you do not know a lot about Bitcoin, that might not seem like a big deal. But, each Bitcoin user has a special, encoded key. No one else can have the same key.

And, the key that Wright used in his messages is connected to a very early collection of Bitcoins created by the mysterious Nakamoto.

Some people who are Bitcoin experts are saying they believe Wright is the person who invented the currency. But others, like The Economist, have said “questions remain” about Wright’s claim.

People who use Bitcoins do not have to use traditional banks, credit cards or other financial services when they use the electronic currency. 

When they were introduced in 2009, Bitcoins were worth just a few pennies each. Now the price of one bitcoin is over $400. New Bitcoins are created, or “mined,” when people with powerful computers solve difficult math problems.

The BBC reports there are now about 15 million Bitcoins in the world.

Wright said he went public about his identity because hiding was becoming too stressful.

“I don't want money. I don't want fame. I don't want adoration³. I just want to be left alone,” he said.

Many people and media organizations are still looking for more details before they believe Wright’s claim.

The Economist posted a poll on its website asking people whether they believe that Wright is the Bitcoin creator. More than 5,000 people have voted. Forty percent of people who voted are still not sure they believe what Wright has said.

Words in This Story

cryptography – n. the process of writing or reading secret messages or codes

currency – n. something that is used as money

entrepreneur – n. a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money

pseudonym⁴ – n. a name that someone (such as a writer) uses instead of his or her real name

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 adoration   

n.爱慕，崇拜

参考例句：

• He gazed at her with pure adoration.他一往情深地注视着她。
• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。

4 pseudonym   

n.假名，笔名

参考例句：

• Eric Blair wrote under the pseudonym of George Orwell.埃里克·布莱尔用乔治·奧威尔这个笔名写作。
• Both plays were published under the pseudonym of Philip Dayre.两个剧本都是以菲利普·戴尔的笔名出版的。