Goats, Blockchain and the Future of Money | Fariel Salahuddin | TED

翻译人员: Violet Yu 校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung

Hi, my name is Fariel,

大家好，我叫法里尔（Fariel）。

but back home,

但是在我的家乡，

I am also called the goat lady.

人们叫我山羊女士。

And today I will be sharing the story of how that came to be about.

今天我就来讲讲这个故事。

In 2015,

2015 年的时候，

I visited a small, remote village in Pakistan

我拜访了巴基斯坦的 一个偏远的小村庄，

called Pathan Goth.

村庄名叫Pathan Goth。

The residents of Pathan Goth

Pathan Goth村的村民缺乏

were living without access to basic facilities

像水电这样的

such as water and electricity.

生活基本设施。

The community was bussing water two hours from Karachi.

社区用巴士从卡拉奇 （Karachi，巴基斯坦第一大城市）取水，

路上要花两个小时。

This made their water so expensive

这也使得水价昂贵，

that their livestock went without water every other day.

村民们的牲畜 每隔一天就会没有水喝。

Bathing and laundry was a luxury.

洗澡和洗衣服成了奢侈的享受。

The solution was simple:

解决途径也很简单：

a solar water pump.

太阳能水泵。

But that would cost $10,000.

但是其造价是一万美元。

And for a community

对于这样的

where the average household earned

平均家庭月收入仅有七十美元的

just about $70 a month,

社区来说，

this was beyond their affordability.

这远超出他们的承受能力了。

As I sat there thinking about this issue,

就在我坐着思考这个问题的时候，

the solution literally walked in front of me.

解决方法竟直接从我眼前走过。

A herd of more than 100 goats crossed my path.

一大群山羊，超过一百只， 在我面前经过。

And I thought to myself,

我心想：

that is a lot of goats.

好多羊啊。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I took a chance and asked the village elder:

我抱着试一试的心态 询问了村中长者：

Would they consider paying me for their pump in goats?

他们愿不愿意用山羊 跟我交换水泵呢？

He agreed,

他同意了。

and that is how Pathan Goth got its pump

就这样，Pathan Goth村拥有了水泵，

and I became the proud owner of 40 goats.

而我骄傲地拥有了四十只山羊。

(Applause)

（掌声）

A few months down the line,

几个月之后，

the Muslim festival of Eid came around.

伊斯兰教节日开斋节来临。

During Eid, livestock is offered

在开斋节，人们献祭牲畜

to honor Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac.

以纪念亚伯拉罕愿意牺牲以撒。

And much like shopping before Christmas,

类似于圣诞节前大采购，

the demand for goats goes up,

山羊的需求激增，

and the price skyrockets.

价格大幅上涨。

I remembered my goats

我想起了我的山羊，

and decided to put up a post on Facebook

我决定在脸书上发帖

asking my friends and family to buy their Eid goat from me that year.

请求我的家人朋友们今年 从我手里买开斋节的山羊。

Within a week I sold all my goats.

不到一周，所有的山羊都卖掉了。

And even after paying for a team to do transport and manage them,

即使算上雇佣运输管理团队的费用，

I more than recovered the cost of the pump.

我也收回了水泵的 成本，甚至有所盈余。

This experience made me question the idea of money

这段经历使我开始质疑货币的概念，

and how it has changed and evolved for us.

货币是如何演变的。

I found that in 2500 BC,

我了解到在公元前 2500 年的

Mesopotamia,

美索不达米亚，

Sumerians used measured quantity of barley as money.

苏美尔人用一定量的大麦充当货币。

But as the trading circle grew beyond one village,

但是，当交易范围超出一个村庄时，

money's key characteristics changed and evolved.

货币的关键特征就发生了演变。

Money not only needed to reliably store value

货币不仅要能可靠地储存价值，

but also be easy to convert

还要有容易转换、

and easy to transport.

方便运输的特点。

That is when we --

这时我们——

civilization --

文明社会——

moved towards coin and paper money.

就发明了硬币和纸币。

But coin and paper money get value

但是硬币和纸币

only when they’re validated by an external authority,

只有在的外部权威机构 授权时才具有货币的价值。

such as God, crown or the central bank.

比如上帝，皇室或者中央银行。

Technology today enables us

如今科技让我们

to bypass the need for this central authority.

可以不再依赖中央权威机构。

Today, the value of any asset can be transferred

今天，每个人拥有的资产的价值

from one person to another

都可以通过区块链

using blockchain.

转移给其他人。

Any asset can now be tokenized,

任何资产都可以代币化、

digitized

数字化，

and traded.

进入贸易市场。

So technology is not only disrupting the need

所以科技不仅扰乱了

for a financial intermediary

主流经济中

in mainstream economy

对金融中介的需求，

but also has the potential

科技也有扰乱

to disrupt and democratize economic power

更多农村经济体、让农村经济

更加民主化的潜力。

in more rural economies.

By removing the need for inefficient and expensive intermediaries,

消除低效且昂贵的中介，

small farmers can derive greater value

小农也能从自家的作物和牲畜中

from what they grow and raise.

获得更大价值。

Livestock is very abundant in these communities.

在这些社区，牲畜非常多。

Farmers literally use their goats and cows

农民们简直把山羊和牛

as ATM machines

当作自动提款机

and as saving instruments.

和储蓄罐来用。

They will sell an animal when they need cash,

需要用钱的时候，就卖掉一只牲畜，

such as to buy fodder for the rest of the herd,

比如给剩下的牧群买饲料，

to buy groceries for their home

或者给家里买食品杂货，

or for weddings and health emergencies.

或者办婚礼、紧急情况的医疗费。

But these communities have never been able

但是这些社区的人从未有机会

to use their goats and cows

用他们的羊群牛群购买

for larger, more productive assets ...

更大型、提高生产力的资产......

until now.

直到现在。

Our farmers are able to convert 15 goats into a solar water pump.

现在，农民们可以用十五只 山羊换一个太阳能水泵。

Previously,

之前，

these communities would rely on

这些社区只能依靠

or wait for an NGO,

或者说等待非营利组织、

a charity

慈善机构

or the government to take notice

或者政府机关注意到他们的境况，

and give them what they needed.

再帮助他们。

Now they are using their own resources

如今，他们能用自己的资源

to fulfill their own needs when they need it.

在有需要的时候自己满足自己。

This is self-reliance.

这就是自力更生。

(Applause and cheers)

（掌声和欢呼声）

So how have we enabled the use of goats

那么我们是如何让山羊

as a reliable form of currency?

成为可靠的货币形式呢？

Right now, we we work with farmers through physical barter.

现在，我们用以物换物 的手段与农民合作。

At the time of the solar installation,

在安装太阳能的时候，

we take possession of the goats.

我们收取山羊，

We then sell these goats as meat to grocery chains

然后把羊肉卖给杂货连锁店，

and through our own retail brand.

也在自己的零售品牌出售。

Every goat that we receive is then recorded,

我们收到每只山羊都会做记录，

as its unique ID --

记录它的唯一标识——

its key characteristics such as its sex,

它的重要信息，比如性别、

its age,

年龄、

its weight

体重，

and even its number of teeth are taken into account.

甚至还有牙齿数量都会记录下来。

And then using these,

用这些数据，

we assign each goat a dollar or a rupee value,

我们赋予每只山羊一美元 或一卢比的价值，

essentially tokenizing a goat.

最终为山羊赋予价值。

We have already worked with 45 communities,

我们已经和 45 个社区合作，

enabling more than 6,000 farmers

让超过六千名农民

to convert their goats into water and electricity.

都能用自己的山羊来购买水和电。

(Applause)

（掌声）

We are now planning to add smartphones,

我们希望增加智能手机，

tractors

拖拉机

and other equipment.

还有其他设备。

My hope is that we can create a more inclusive economic system

我们希望创建更加包容的经济系统，

where any person

每个人、

or any community can use what they grow and raise as money.

每个社区都能把自己的 作物和牲畜当作货币使用。

Where a farmer, a small farmer

一名农民，一名小农

can use, wherever he is,

都能使用，不管他是谁，

whether it’s Pakistan, Nepal, Somalia,

不管是在巴基斯坦、 尼泊尔，还是索马里，

can use a digitized goat to pay for her kid’s school fees,

都能用数字化的山羊 来为子女支付学费，

a tractor

或者是买拖拉机

or a smartphone.

或者智能手机。

This future isn't quite here yet,

未来还没有到来，

but I hope using goats as money gets us closer.

但我希望，山羊货币使 我们向未来更近一步。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause and cheers)

（掌声和欢呼声）