IN 2008 an obscure(鲜为人知的) manifesto introduced a new vision of money that promised to make central banks obsolete(过时的，被淘汰的). The techno-futurist ambitions of bitcoin’s pseudonymous(化名的，用笔名的) creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, captured the public imagination—and sparked the wild booms and busts of unbacked(无背书的，无资产支撑的) crypto assets. More recently, the focus has been shifting towards the use of crypto’s underlying technologies—tokenisation(代币化) and distributed ledger(分布式账本)s—in mainstream finance. These innovations enable assets such as bonds, shares or deposits to be represented, recorded and transferred as digital packets of data, or tokens. Combining distributed ledgers with tokenisation promises a more efficient way to offer financial services, around the clock and with far fewer intermediaries than today.(将分布式账本与代币化相结合，有望以更高效的方式提供金融服务：全天候运转，且中介机构远少于今天。)
2008年，一份鲜为人知的宣言提出了一种全新的货币构想，声称要让中央银行变得多余。比特币那位化名创造者中本聪的技术未来主义抱负，点燃了公众的想象，也掀起了无背书加密资产的暴涨暴跌。近来，人们的关注点正转向将加密货币的底层技术——代币化与分布式账本——应用于主流金融。这些创新让债券、股票或存款等资产能够以数字数据包（即代币）的形式被表示、记录和转移。将分布式账本与代币化相结合，有望以更高效的方式提供金融服务：全天候运转，且中介机构远少于今天。
This technological shift is beginning to reshape(重塑，重新塑造) finance. But the effects will be different from the predictions made by Mr Nakamoto. As finance becomes more digital, it will depend more, not less, on a widely trusted public form of money.(金融越是数字化，就越会依赖——而非更少依赖——一种被广泛信任的公共货币形式。) Central banks are not going to become irrelevant(无关紧要的，不重要的) anytime soon(短期内，很快). Let me explain why.
这场技术变革正开始重塑金融。但其结果将与中本聪的预言不同。金融越是数字化，就越会依赖——而非更少依赖——一种被广泛信任的公共货币形式。中央银行短期内不会变得无足轻重。让我来解释原因。
Every transaction, from buying a used car to trading bonds, is complete only when the buyer receives the asset they purchased, and the seller receives money they trust.(每一笔交易，从购买二手车到债券交易，只有当买方收到所购资产、卖方收到自己信任的货币时，才算完成。) This is called settlement(结算，交割).
每一笔交易，从购买二手车到债券交易，只有当买方收到所购资产、卖方收到自己信任的货币时，才算完成。这被称为结算。