日前，孙运传教授接受中国日报采访，就发改委关于将数字货币挖矿列为淘汰产业征求意见发表评论。首先，挖矿是对资源的巨大浪费，仅2017年挖矿的耗电量就超过全球159个国家的用电量；其次，世界上包括中国、韩国在内的很多国家将当前的数字货币列为非法货币，认为其不具有法偿性和强制性等货币属性。但是，区块链作为一项新兴技术具有非常广阔的应用前景，数字货币本身也是必然的趋势，但是并不一定采用区块链技术。

The NDRC wants to eliminate the cryptocurrency“mining” industry mainly for two reasons. First, cryptocurrency mining causes a huge waste of resources as its nature is to make the “miners” do extremely difficult math to compete for new blocks that are found every 10 minutes, on average. To contend for the reward and the right to record the blocks, the miners have to use a lot of computing power and huge amounts of mostly coalgenerated electricity.

According to the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, bitcoin’s current estimated annual electricity consumption is 55.26 terawatt hours, more than the total consumption of countries such as Romania, Uzbekistan and Bangladesh.

Besides, cryptocurrency is illegal in China. In fact, the authorities listed bitcoin as illegal currency in 2013 as it doesn’t have the properties of a currency, such as legal tender and unconditional government promise of exchange, and closed the cryptocurrency exchange platforms in 2017. The achievements that the miners claim to have made cannot be put to actual use in China, leading to a huge waste of resources.

Yet the NDRC’s recent move is not expected to have a big impact on the industry’s development because China made its policy toward cryptocurrency public clear a long time ago.

But as an emerging industry in the information era, cryptocurrency has some potential properties. People’s Bank of China established a team of cryptocurrency research staff several years ago. In February, JPMorgan Chase issued its first cryptocurrency“JPM Coin”, which requires the users to deposit a commensurate number of dollars in the bank first. China may take a similar approach if it ever issues cryptocurrency.

A bubble, similar to the internet bubble in 2000, has been formed in the blockchain industry. Once the bubble bursts, certain reliable and valuable companies will gradually develop and expand. As an advanced technology, blockchain has promising prospects and can be put to good use in different sectors. For instance, knowledge blockchain could guarantee the reliable transmission of credible knowledge.

But the supervision on the blockchain industry should be strengthened to prevent new types of fraud, for example, cryptocurrency fraud, which has led to the bankruptcy of a number of people.

来源：《CHINA DAILY》，2019年4月19日