Bitcoin Creating Interest and Controversy-英语听力

[00:00.100]From VOA Learning English, [00:02.620]this is the Economics Report. [00:05.670]Many people who want to buy goods, pay for services, [00:10.530]or send money anywhere in the world are using Bitcoin. [00:15.430]They do not have to use banks, credit cards [00:19.150]or other financial services [00:21.650]when they use the electronic currency. [00:25.280]Unlike national currency, [00:28.530]Bitcoin is not issued by governments. [00:31.990]Bitcoin is electronically protected or encrypted. [00:37.960]It is bought, sold and transferred [00:41.970]like other currencies through trading companies. [00:46.530]Transfers happen without governments being involved [00:51.780]or regulating the currency. [00:54.590]Jerry Brito is a technology policy analyst [00:59.800]at George Mason University. [01:02.420]He says Bitcoin is the world's first, [01:06.180]true digital currency, that is not controlled by anyone. [01:11.780]"Bitcoin basically solved a computer science problem that, [01:17.240]for the first time, allows just two people to transact online, [01:21.640]so it's decentralized. There's no Bitcoin company, [01:23.990]there’s no government, it's kind of like email." [01:27.210]However, the very things that people like about Bitcoin, [01:32.210]are also what criminals like about it. [01:35.820]They want to move money from place to place secretly, [01:40.920]without governments knowing about it. [01:43.890]Law enforcement agencies in the United States [01:48.440]recently closed an online market that used Bitcoin. [01:53.750]Marco Santori is the chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation's [01:58.900]Regulatory Affairs Committee. [02:01.600]He notes that all Bitcoin transactions [02:06.010]can be seen by all other computers, [02:09.170]and he says they believe [02:11.570]that no one regulates the currency is not true. [02:15.570]"Bitcoin is in fact heavily regulated. [02:18.190]It is very heavily regulated. [02:20.200]Those who exchange Bitcoins for other digital currencies [02:23.860]or exchange Bitcoins for dollars are money transmitters [02:27.480]under the Bank Secrecy Act," said Santori. [02:29.130]The amount of Bitcoins in the system [02:32.720]must always be counted and tracked. [02:35.690]Users' computers that watch and approve Bitcoin sales [02:41.340]and purchases are given new Bitcoins. [02:45.600]Mr Brito says this is how more money is added to the system. [02:51.820]"Every 10 minutes, [02:52.970]there are about 25.5 Bitcoins introduced into the economy, [02:56.940]and it is given to one of the miners, [02:59.800]kind of at random as it were, [03:02.340]who are contributing the computer capacity," said Brito. [03:05.050]The United States, Germany, [03:07.700]and many other governments accept the use of Bitcoins, [03:11.810]but some officials have called for stronger regulations [03:16.020]on the electronic currency. [03:18.320]China recently banned its banks, [03:22.000]but not businesses, from trading in Bitcoin. [03:26.660]Since its beginning in 2009, [03:30.910]the value of a Bitcoin has increased from just a few pennies [03:36.030]to hundreds of American dollars. [03:39.130]And that's the VOA Learning English Economics Report.