汇丰（HSBC）和渣打（Standard Chartered）退出洗钱业务的举动或许来得正是时候。在一些需要躲开监管视线、转移现金或洗钱的人们中间，一种网络虚拟货币——比特币（Bitcoin）似乎正在赢得青睐，日渐流行。

    如果你花点时间看看比特币的网络市场，就会发现比特币的用户从街头担心通胀的普通伊朗人，到倾向于用无迹可寻的货币收款的职业杀手和毒品贩子，形形色色，无所不有。如果比特币在国际市场上的汇率能稳定下来，有望最终进入合法的金融体系，威胁到众多银行以及Visa、万事达卡（MasterCard）等支付运营商的重要利润来源。

    上周，总部位于英国的两家银行汇丰和渣打分别遭遇天价罚款19亿美元和3.27亿美元，如此巨额的罚款几乎让人难以理解。两家银行被控帮助一些不择手段的演员转移和达成交易，违反了国际法和联合国制裁政策。按纽约总检察官办公室的说法，汇丰为墨西哥黑手党做了大量工作，渣打帮助伊朗政府达成了约2,500亿美元的石油交易，从德黑兰赚到了大量利润。

    但像汇丰和渣打这样在地下金融市场中努力争夺一席之地的状况并不少见。从瑞信（Credit Suisse）到瑞银（UBS），再到摩根大通（JPMorgan），全球几乎各大金融机构都曾在某些时候逾越雷区，为那些他们明知应列入黑名单的政府或个人的可疑交易提供便利。银行为什么要参与这类交易，个中原因显而易见——这些交易的利润极高。

    不过，由于政府、尤其是美国政府加大打击力度，如今银行要继续为“邪恶”国家或在西方臭名昭著的人物提供业务服务已变得困难多了。举例来说，对于与伊朗进行交易，奥巴马政府已向欧盟施压，要求将伊朗封锁在欧盟银行体系之外。最近，伊朗国内的银行被踢出了环球同业银行金融电讯协会（SWIFT）组织，要从外国银行向伊朗汇钱几乎已是不可能。至少目前看来，这一利润中心似乎已经向银行关上了大门。

    但罪犯和邪恶国家仍然需要转移他们的现金。于是，网络虚拟货币“比特币”悄然登场。如果你对这种货币还不熟悉，我们在这里简单介绍一下：比特币是一种财富存储形式和交换媒介，主要用于网上购买商品和服务。目前，比特币交易主要在互联网地下世界，即所谓的“深层网络”（Deep Web）中进行。相对于搜索引擎和一般互联网浏览器带给我们的互联网，“深层网络”就是它们下面的黑土。

    你可以舒舒服服地坐在家里的电脑前，在这个互联网地下世界中买卖从毒品到枪支的几乎任何东西。还可以通过一种比特币“搅拌机”洗钱。它就像是一个比特洗衣店,在这里比特币和现金都被会被洗“干净”。跟银行一样，这些“搅拌机”通常对这项服务收取1%的交易费。

    HSBC and Standard Chartered may have gotten out of the money laundering and sanction-skirting game just in time. Bitcoin, a virtual online "currency," seems to be gaining traction and legitimacy among those who need to transfer or launder their cash outside of the prying eyes of regulators.

    Spend some time in the sketchy online marketplace for this currency and you'll find that Bitcoin users range from the common Iranian on the street, who is worried about inflation, to hit men and drug dealers, who prefer to be paid in an untraceable currency. If Bitcoin is able to stabilize its value on the international markets, it could eventually creep into the legitimate world of finance, threatening major profit centers for both the banks and payment operators like Visa and MasterCard.

    The massive fines levied against British-based banks HSBC ($1.9 billion) and Standard Chartered ($327 million) last week were so big it was almost hard to comprehend. The two banks were accused of helping unscrupulous actors transfer and conduct business in violation of international law and UN sanctions. HSBC did a lot of work for the Mexican mafia while Standard Chartered enjoyed the comforts of Tehran by facilitating, as per the New York Attorney General's Office, some $250 billion worth of oil trades for the Iranian government.

    But HSBC (HBC) and Standard Chartered are hardly alone in grabbing a piece of the financial underworld. Nearly every major financial institution from Credit Suisse (CS) to UBS (UBS) to JPMorgan (JPM) have been fined at some point for facilitating questionable transactions for governments or individuals they knew they shouldn't be dealing with. It is understandable why the banks participated in such business – it is extremely profitable.

    Nevertheless, it has become much harder for banks to conduct business with rogue nations and unsavory characters as governments, most notably the US, fight back. In its dealing with Iran, for example, the Obama administration has pressured the EU to lock Iran out of its banking system. Iran's banks were recently cut off from the international "SWIFT" club, making it virtually impossible to transfer money to Iran from a foreign bank. This profit center, at least for now, seems closed to the banks.

    But criminals and rogue nations still need to move their cash. Enter Bitcoin, the online virtual currency. For those unfamiliar, Bitcoin functions as a storage of wealth and a medium of exchange for goods and services mostly available for purchase on the web. For now, Bitcoins are primarily accepted in the Internet underworld known as the "Deep Web," which is a sort of dark foil to the web brought to us by search engines and standard internet browsers.

    Here in this internet netherworld you can buy and sell almost anything – from drugs to guns – all from the comfort of your home computer. Money laundering can be conducted through one of the various bitcoin "mixers," like Bit Laundry, where bitcoins and cash are exchanged for "clean" ones. Like the banks, these mixers usually take a 1% transaction fee for the service.

    用比特币支付就和发送一封电邮一样简单，只需找到一位比特币“客户”，像比特币ID一样，将款项付至另一个人的比特币“钱包”中。有一些类似贝宝（PayPal）的合法（严格来说，并不那么合法）比特币服务和比特币“交易平台”可以简化流程。与通过传统渠道付钱不同，比特币交易可以完全匿名，对于那些希望逃避法律监管的人堪称完美。一旦交易完成就可以随时轻松销号，另立新账户，用户借此可以尽可能地隐瞒身份。

    非常规支付渠道的资金转移和交易业务给金融行业带来了严重冲击。比特币网络是免费的，任何人任何时候都可以付款和收款。相比之下，由万事达、Visa、美国运通（American Express）和Discover等工商运营的其他支付网络都会向商家收取网络使用费用，同时留下书面记录。转移大笔现金时，大银行往往收取大笔手续费。正如信用卡支付，银行交易会留下书面痕迹，政府监管部门会对此密切监控，时时留意包括从逃税到洗钱等在内的、任何形式的不法货币行为。

    但是不能因为比特币网络免费，就认为它是最好的转移财富方式。事实上，这是迄今风险最高的资金转移方式，因为它只限于比特币这一种交换媒介。不像普通货币有主权国家的信用担保，没人为比特币提供担保，因此比特币在国际外汇市场中总是大起大落。由于比特币仍是一种虚拟货币，买卖双方在自身比特币账户中移入/移出货币时都承担着巨大的汇率风险。比特币诞生以来的两年里，比特币/美元的汇率最高为30美元，最低为2美元。今年夏天随着安全担忧导致人们大批抛售比特币，比特币汇率大跌。应景的观察人士写了一些比特币的文章后就转而关注其他主题去了，但比特币的汇率随后开始呈现缓慢而稳定的回升，最近报14美元左右。

    如果比特币要想作为一种货币和支付网络继续存在下去，形成相对稳定的汇率是关键。但对于那些本币疲弱的人们来说，比特币正在赢得青睐。以伊朗为例，超高通胀已促使一些精通科技的伊朗人转向用比特币来保存他们不断贬值的财富。过去伊朗人用过美元，但随着美国和其盟国实施严厉的国际银行业制裁，如今已很难在伊朗街头找到美元的踪影。

    比特币的命运或许能够就此实现转变：从深层网络的交易货币升级为合法的替代货币；现在通过这种货币，美国的一个人可以瞬间将现金转给他在伊朗的表弟，零痕迹，零费用。随着比特币市场的流动性和价值上升(目前流通的比特币仅有1,050万个，价值1.40亿美元)，比特币将来甚至可以被伊朗政府用于买卖武器和石油。

    Sending a Bitcoin payment is as easy as sending an email, you just need to access a Bitcoin "client," like BitcoinID, and send the payment to another person's Bitcoin "wallet." There are a bunch of legitimate, and not so legitimate, PayPal-like Bitcoin services and BitCoin "exchanges" that streamline the process. Unlike sending money through traditional channels, Bitcoin transactions can be done completely anonymously, perfect for someone trying to skirt the law. Once a transaction is complete, it is easy to liquidate an account and open a new one at any time, allowing users to stay as incognito as possible.

    Passing money and making transactions outside of normal pay channels has serious repercussions for the financial industry. The Bitcoin network is free and can be used by anyone at any time to send and receive payments. That compares to other payment networks run by MasterCard (MA), Visa (V), American Express (AXP) and Discover, all of which charge merchants fees for using their network and leave paper trails. The big banks charge large fees to move large blocks of cash. As with credit card payments, bank transactions leave paper trails, which are closely monitored by government regulators, who are constantly on the lookout for any sort of monetary malfeasance, ranging from tax dodging to money laundering.

    But just because the Bitcoin network is free to use doesn't mean it's the best way to move wealth. Indeed, it is by far the riskiest way to send money as it is only as good as its medium of exchange -- Bitcoins. Unlike currency backed by the full faith and credit of sovereign nations, Bitcoins are backed up by, well, nothing, leaving it open to wild swings on the international currency market. Since Bitcoins are still a virtual currency, buyers and sellers take on massive exchange rate risk moving money to and from their Bitcoin accounts. In the two years it's been around, the Bitcoin has been valued as high as $30 to as low as $2. A wild swing occurred last summer when security concerns cause people to dump their Bitcoin en masse. Casual observers wrote off Bitcoin and moved on, but it has slowly and steadily regained its value, last trading at around $14 per Bitcoin.

    It is critical for Bitcoin to establish a relatively stable exchange rate if it is to survive as a currency and as a payment network. But for those living in nations with weak currencies, the Bitcoin has started to gain traction. In Iran, for instance, hyperinflation has caused some of the more technologically savvy Iranians to turn to Bitcoin to store their fleeting wealth. Before, Iranians used the US dollar, but those have become hard to find on the streets of Iran these days thanks to the tough international banking sanctions levied by the US and its allies.

    It is here where Bitcoin may make a turn – rising from the deep web into a legitimate alternative currency; one where someone in the US can transfer cash to his cousin in Shiraz in a blink of an eye, with no trace and no fees. As the Bitcoin market becomes more liquid and more valuable (there are currently just 10.5 million Bitcoins in circulation valued at $140 million), it could even eventually be used by the government of Iran to buy and sell weapons and oil.

    确实，美欧当局早已开始担心比特币的价值可能迅速增长，成为一大问题。美国联邦调查局（FBI）在今年春季的一份报告中建议，比特币的第三方交易平台必须遵守银行（理应）遵守的反洗钱规定。

    “美国政府对于这些交易平台没有多大影响力，”卡耐基梅隆大学（Carnegie Mellon University）教授、密码与安全专家尼古拉斯•克里斯蒂安告诉《财富》杂志（Fortune)称。“目前尚不清楚这些交易平台是什么状况。它们是否出售货币产品，是否在销售一些金融产品或一些不存在的东西？”

    但我们确切知道的是，比特币在一些法律监管的灰色地带中运作。目前比特币交易完全不受监管，也不受美国和国际银行法规的管辖。虽然这对于那些想躲在暗处的人们是件好事，但反过来，也会阻止美国和欧洲的普通人和合法商人接纳它。事实上，今年夏季比特币汇率大跌部分原因正是一个比特币的主要网络交易平台遭到了网络大抢劫。如果合法性和安全性得不到保障，比特币可能继续作为影子货币存在，估值容易出现大幅波动。

    但这种状况或许已开始发生变化，至少欧洲是这样。作为众多比特币交易平台之一，Bit-Coin Central公司本月早些时候宣布已与法国本地支付服务提供商Aqoba结盟，为第三方在支付账户中保存资金。虽然这没有使Bit-Coin Central变成一家银行（因为它不能投资持有的比特币），但由Aqoba作为Bitcoin交易的中间人将给用比特币交易的用户心中带来一些安全感。

    虽然BitCoin Central表示它不是一家银行，但它提供的功能与银行非常相似。最终，比特币或许可以在很多日常银行交易中代替欧元。但这种情况不会在一夜之间发生，原因很简单：比特币系统对于大多数人而言都过于复杂。

    改变的催化剂可能来自像伊朗这样的地方，严厉制裁已导致本币近乎崩溃。如果伊朗有足够多的“合法”用户开始使用这一系统，那么比特币这个妖精可能会从此永远逃出魔瓶，不仅给银行利润造成冲击，也会对主权国家的货币监管机构构成威胁。

    译者：早稻米

    Indeed, authorities in the US and Europe are already concerned that Bitcoins could soon grow in value and become a major problem. The FBI recommended in a report this spring that third-party exchanges of Bitcoins be forced to adhere to the same anti-money laundering that the banks (are supposed) to be following.

    "The US government doesn't have much leverage over the exchanges," Nicholas Christian, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and an expert on cryptography and security, told Fortune. "It is not clear, yet, what status these exchanges have. Are they selling monetary products, are the selling financial products, or something else that doesn't exist?"

    What we do know is that Bitcoins operate in some sort of legal grey area, which is for now allowing Bitcoin transactions to occur totally unregulated and outside the scope of both US and international banking laws. While this may be great for people who want to live in the shadows it is deterring everyday people and legitimate merchants in the US and Europe from embracing it. Indeed, part of the crash in BitCoin value last summer was due in part to a major heist at one of the major online exchanges by cyber bandits. Without that legitimacy and security, Bitcoins will probably remain a shadow currency, which will be vulnerable to wild swings in valuation.

    But that may start to change, at least in Europe. Bit-Coin Central, one of the many online Bitcoin exchanges, announced earlier this month that it was teaming up with Aqoba, a local payment service provider in France, to keep funds on behalf of third-parties in payment accounts. While this doesn't make Bit-Coin Central a bank (as it cannot invest the Bitcoins it holds), it will bring some peace of mind for users when doing business in Bitcoins, as Aqoba works as an intermediary for Bitcoin transactions.

    While BitCoin Central says it is not a bank, it is performing very "bank-like" functions. Eventually, Bitcoins could be used as a way to replace the euro in many everyday bank transactions. But it won't happen overnight for one simple reason: The Bitcoin system is far too complex for most people.

    The catalyst for change could come out of places like Iran where crippling sanctions have made their currency collapse in value. If enough "legitimate" users in Iran start to use the system, then the Bitcoin genie could forever be out of the bottle, threatening not only just bank profits, but also the monetary authority of sovereign nations.