Mark Zuckerberg had barely settled into his seat in front of the US House of Representatives financial services committee in October when the grilling began.
2019年10月，在马克•扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)开始接受美国众议院金融服务委员会(US House of Representatives financial services committee)的盘问后，他几乎很难安稳地坐在他的椅子上。
No niceties were afforded the Facebook chief executive. Very quickly, members from both sides of the political divide went on the offensive. Facebook, he was brusquely told, should be broken up. Libra, its cryptocurrency project, was being deserted by its backers and he should put it on hold until a regulatory framework was in place.
这位Facebook首席执行官没能得到什么和颜悦色的对待。很快，两党成员都对他发起攻势。他被不客气地告知，Facebook应该被分拆。该公司的加密货币项目Libra正在被支持者抛弃，他应该暂时搁置该项目，直至一个监管框架建立起来。
Announced with a fanfare in June, Libra has rapidly become the benchmark for governments’ attitudes to crypto assets. Although politicians and regulators have kept up with developments in so-called stablecoins, Mr Zuckerberg’s intervention with Libra — promising cheaper and faster money transfers — concentrated minds.
自2019年6月高调宣布以来，Libra已迅速成为各国政府对待加密资产态度的基准。虽然政界人士和监管机构一直在跟进所谓“稳定币”(stablecoin)的发展，但扎克伯格携Libra入局吸引了所有人的注意力。Libra承诺更便宜、更快速的转账服务。
Investors view cryptocurrencies with a mix of curiosity, scepticism and fascination. Curiosity, because any disrupter deserves attention, particularly one based on the application of blockchain to such a fundamental part of global finance as currencies; scepticism, because the technology is in its infancy, has low adoption and is up against strong and durable fiat currencies; and fascination, because these barriers have not prevented wild speculation on cryptocurrencies.
投资者对加密货币既好奇、又怀疑、又着迷。好奇是因为任何颠覆者都值得关注，尤其是加密货币是一个基于把区块链应用于货币等全球金融基础领域的颠覆者；怀疑是因为该技术尚处于萌芽阶段，普及率较低，而且要与强大而长久的法定货币竞争；着迷是因为这些障碍都未能阻止对加密货币的疯狂投机。