????Stripe公司正在大舉挺進(jìn)數(shù)字貨幣領(lǐng)域。

????這家初創(chuàng)公司位于舊金山，它的技術(shù)能讓商家接受在線支付。上周四，該公司推出了一種名為“恒星”（stellar）、類似于比特幣的新型貨幣，以及一個(gè)支付網(wǎng)絡(luò)，該網(wǎng)絡(luò)可讓用戶使用任何一種傳統(tǒng)貨幣或數(shù)字貨幣進(jìn)行支付，包括美元、比索、歐元和比特幣。用戶可以在全球范圍內(nèi)采用任一種貨幣支付，并由網(wǎng)絡(luò)自動(dòng)將其兌換成另一種貨幣——這相當(dāng)于一個(gè)無所不能的在線貨幣兌換平臺(tái)。

????目前，“恒星”是免費(fèi)發(fā)放的，以吸引更多人進(jìn)入數(shù)字貨幣（或所謂的“加密貨幣”）這一新興領(lǐng)域。采用這一方式，也能確保它以最快速度讓更多人使用。

????“恒星”是由非盈利組織“恒星開發(fā)基金會(huì)”研發(fā)出來的，該基金會(huì)由Stripe公司首席執(zhí)行官帕特里克?克里森，與創(chuàng)新支付企業(yè)Ripple公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人杰德?麥凱萊布共同創(chuàng)建，初期投資是來自Stripe公司的300萬美元。這個(gè)基金會(huì)的董事會(huì)和顧問團(tuán)隊(duì)可謂大佬云集，比如貝寶公司（Paypal）的前高管基思?拉布伊斯、著名孵化器YCombinator的合伙人山姆?奧特曼，眾籌平臺(tái)AngelList的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人納瓦爾?拉維康特，以及博客平臺(tái)運(yùn)營商Automattic的首席執(zhí)行官馬特?穆倫維格。

????2011年，克里森和他的兄弟約翰開始為Stripe公司開發(fā)相關(guān)技術(shù)。此后不久，他就萌生了一個(gè)念頭，要搭建一個(gè)當(dāng)時(shí)還聞所未聞的在線支付網(wǎng)絡(luò)，并為此不斷鉆研。本周初，他在接受《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）專訪時(shí)表示：“其實(shí)早在Stripe公司成立之前，我們就開始思考加密貨幣對(duì)公司的意義，尤其是我們?nèi)绾尾拍芾煤眠@種貨幣，實(shí)現(xiàn)自己的夢想。”多年來，克里森經(jīng)常會(huì)談起想要推廣普及在線支付，使之無處不在這一話題，現(xiàn)在他感到，加密貨幣的出現(xiàn)與實(shí)現(xiàn)這一愿景恰巧不謀而合。

????幾個(gè)月前，克里森開始和麥凱萊布探討這個(gè)想法。麥凱萊布曾幫人創(chuàng)建了Ripple公司，它后來成了比特幣平臺(tái)的對(duì)手。克里森回顧稱：“談過幾次后我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，Stripe公司的想法理應(yīng)實(shí)現(xiàn)，他所設(shè)想的東西也應(yīng)該實(shí)現(xiàn)，所以這兩者幾乎是精準(zhǔn)（匹配的）。所以我們兩方?jīng)Q定攜手合作也就在情理之中了。”

????他們倆達(dá)成共識(shí)，最佳策略是創(chuàng)建一個(gè)獨(dú)立于Stripe公司的非盈利組織，以直接掌控“恒星”的開發(fā)。克里森稱：“我們都感到，基本部件不應(yīng)該由一個(gè)單一組織掌控。”他們還決定，大部分“恒星”貨幣都將免費(fèi)發(fā)放：比如，950億“恒星”貨幣中，有一半都將發(fā)放給那些通過Facebook注冊的用戶。

????不過“恒星”未來的命運(yùn)還籠罩在眾多疑問中，比如這種貨幣是否會(huì)具有很大的價(jià)值——這取決于它的使用量——它所賴以流通的網(wǎng)絡(luò)是否能順利運(yùn)行。克里森也坦承，他們所謂的“實(shí)驗(yàn)性研究項(xiàng)目”要想站穩(wěn)腳跟還需假以時(shí)日。

????只需看看比特幣緩慢的成長道路就能明白這一點(diǎn)。盡管自2009年1月以來這種數(shù)字加密貨幣已登上了無數(shù)頭條——而且《新聞周刊》（Newsweek）三月的封面報(bào)道造成了一個(gè)小高潮——但實(shí)際上，比特幣的用戶基數(shù)始終低于預(yù)期：有人估計(jì)，截至今年1月，用戶數(shù)剛超過120萬人。但是比特幣卻引發(fā)了一場嚴(yán)肅的討論，即貨幣可以且應(yīng)該通過網(wǎng)上支付，甚至就連貝寶公司這樣更為傳統(tǒng)的金融機(jī)構(gòu)也表示，他們一直在密切關(guān)注比特幣的發(fā)展。

????不過，既然有硅谷的一些頂尖大佬掌舵，“恒星”也很有可能會(huì)和現(xiàn)在大行其道的一些加密貨幣一樣躋身“一流”的行列（stellar也有“一流”之意——譯注）。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：清遠(yuǎn)

????Stripe is diving into digital currency in a big way.

????The San Francisco-based startup, whose technology lets businesses accept online payments, helped introduce a new Bitcoin-like currency on Thursday called “stellar,” as well as a payments network that lets users send any kind of traditional and digital currency including U.S. dollars, pesos, euros and Bitcoins. People will be able to send one kind of currency across the globe and have it automatically converted into another — a sort of all-inclusive online money exchange.

????At first, Stellar will be given away for free as a way to introduce more people to the nascent world of digital money, or so-called “crypto-currency.” It’s also a sure-fire way to get stellar to as many people as quickly as possible.

????Stellar was developed by the Stellar Development Foundation, a non-profit created by Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb plus $3 million in initial funding from Stripe. The foundation’s board and advisors boast impressive names like ex-PayPal executive Keith Rabois, YCombinator partner Sam Altman, AngelList cofounder Naval Ravikant and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, among others.

????Collison had been kicking around the idea of an agnostic online payments network since 2011, shortly after he and brother John began working on the technology for Stripe. “Even before Stripe launched, we were thinking about what crypto-currencies mean for Stripe and in particular, how we can take advantage of them in order to accomplish the things we want to do,” Collison explained to Fortune earlier this week. Collision has talked over the years of wanting to make online payments universal and ubiquitous, and he felt crypto-currencies dovetailed with that vision.

????So several months ago, Collison began brainstorming with McCaleb, who had helped build Ripple, a Bitcoin rival. “We were having these conversations, and it was so clear what Stripe thought should exist, and what he thought should exist, and they almost precisely [matched up],” Collison recalled. “So it made sense to decide to do something together.”

????Collison and McCaleb agreed that establishing a non-profit separate from Stripe to be in control of developing Stellar was the best strategy. “We felt the basic parts shouldn’t be controlled by one single entity,” said Collison. They also decided to give away the majority of stellar currency for free: half of the 95 billion stellar coins will be given to people who sign up via Facebook , for instance.

????Many questions remain about Stellar, not the least of which includes whether the currency will achieve any sort of significant value — something that will depend on how much it’s used — and whether the network it flows through takes off. Collison readily admits it will take time for their so-called “experimental research project” to take hold, if it does at all.

????Look no further than Bitcoin’s own slow, growth for proof of that. Although the cryptocurrency has earned countless headlines since January 2009 — the culmination being Newsweek’s March cover story — in reality, Bitcoin’s user base remains lower-than-expected: Over 1.2 million as of this January, by some estimates. But what Bitcoin has sparked is a serious conversation about the way money can and should be processed online, to the point where even more traditional services like PayPal have said they are closely following Bitcoin.

????With some of Silicon Valley’s brightest at the helm, Stellar has just as good a chance as any current crypto-currency perhaps to be, well, stellar.