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The writer is founder & CEO of Digital Self Labs and visiting scholar on financial technology at Georgetown University Law School
作者是数字自我实验室(Digital Self Labs)的创始人兼首席执行官，也是乔治城大学法律学院(Georgetown University Law School)金融科技领域的访问学者
In 1758, an English mail coach carrying banknotes was robbed. The robber used one of the stolen banknotes to pay for a room at an inn. The original owner of the banknote asked the Bank of England to stop payment of the note, whereupon the innkeeper sued. The case of Miller v Race rose to England’s highest court judge, who ruled that the innkeeper was the rightful owner of the banknote.
1758年，一辆运送钞票的英格兰邮车遭到抢劫。劫匪用其中一张被盗钞票在一家旅馆支付了房费。钞票的原主人请求英格兰银行停止兑付该钞票，旅馆老板于是提起诉讼。米勒诉雷斯案最终提交至英格兰最高法院，法官裁定旅馆老板是该钞票的合法持有人。
The judge, Lord Mansfield, opined that if a merchant always had to question whether there might be an upstream property interest in a banknote then the notes could not be used to grease the wheels of commerce. Therefore a banknote made out to bearer and payable on demand must be treated as currency — a medium of exchange.
法官曼斯菲尔德认为，如果商人总是要怀疑某张钞票是否存在上游的财产权利，那么这些钞票就无法在商业活动中发挥润滑作用。因此，注明“持票人即为收款人”且“见票即付”的钞票，必须被视为货币——一种交换媒介。
Fast forward to today and a popular form of cryptocurrency called stablecoins is facing challenges similar to those faced by banknotes in 18th-century England.
时至今日，一种名为稳定币的主流加密货币正面临着与18世纪英格兰纸币类似的挑战。
Stablecoins are designed to maintain the value of a sovereign currency, such as the US dollar, and are backed by currency reference assets. They have been shown to possess the major characteristics of currency: they are a unit of account, a store of value and a medium of exchange. The total value of stablecoins in circulation has reached $240bn.
稳定币旨在维持主权货币（如美元）的价值，并由货币参考资产作为支撑。它们已被证明具备货币的主要特征：既是记账单位，也是价值储藏手段和交换媒介。目前，流通中的稳定币总价值已达2400亿美元。
Yet potential property claims of prior owners could hinder the use of stablecoins as digital money.
然而，前任所有者可能提出的财产主张，可能会妨碍稳定币作为数字货币的使用。
Legislation is much needed. The US Congress is considering two bills that will regulate stablecoins: the Senate’s Genius Act and the House’s Stable Act. However, neither clearly define the use of stablecoins as money under private commercial law, tax law, and accounting rules.
立法十分迫切。美国国会(US Congress)正在审议两项旨在规范稳定币的法案：参议院的《Genius法案》(Genius Act)和众议院的《Stable法案》(Stable Act)。然而，这两项法案都未在私人商法、税法和会计准则下，明确界定稳定币作为货币的用途。
The case of the stolen 18th-century English banknote serves as the foundation for much of US payments law. Lord Mansfield’s ruling is enshrined in the “take-free” rule in the Uniform Commercial Code — laws governing commercial transactions. In 2022, Article 12 was added to address digital assets. If stablecoins are considered “controllable electronic records”, Article 12’s “take-free” rule applies — meaning the interests of an upstream creditor are cut off.
18世纪英国钞票失窃案成为美国支付法律的重要基础。曼斯菲尔德勋爵的裁决被写入了《统一商法典》(Uniform Commercial Code)中的“善意取得”规则，该法典规范商业交易。2022年，《统一商法典》新增第12条，以应对数字资产。如果稳定币被视为“可控电子记录”，第12条的“善意取得”规则便适用——这意味着上游债权人的权益将被切断。
However, only 27 US states so far have adopted Article 12. For the rest, stablecoins could be treated as “general intangibles”, meaning prior property claims could remain attached, rendering them a poor medium of exchange.
然而，到目前为止，美国只有27个州采纳了第12条。对于其余州来说，稳定币可能会被视为“一般无形资产”，这意味着先前的财产权利主张可能仍然附着在其上，从而使其成为较差的交换媒介。
How stablecoins are treated under tax rules is also important. If stablecoins continue to be categorised as “property” like digital assets such as bitcoin and ethereum, then gains and losses must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. As stablecoin payments become more widely used, this could result in millions of reports about personal and business payments being submitted to the government.
稳定币在税收法规下的处理方式同样至关重要。如果稳定币继续像比特币和以太坊等数字资产一样被归类为“财产”，那么其收益和损失就必须向美国国税局(Internal Revenue Service)申报。随着稳定币支付的普及，可能会有数以百万计关于个人和企业支付的报告被提交给政府。
Furthermore, if you use stablecoins to purchase something, it could be considered a “disposal event” subject to capital gains tax, which could lead to burdensome and confusing tax treatment for consumers and businesses.
此外，如果你用稳定币进行购买，这可能会被视为一次需缴纳资本利得税的“处置事件”，从而导致消费者和企业面临繁琐且令人困惑的税务处理。
One way to address the reporting issue is to ensure stablecoins are always purchased or sold at exactly the value of a currency — meaning there are no gains or losses. To do so, stablecoin legislation must require issuers to follow stringent reserve requirements that will ensure their value and segregation requirements that will protect against creditors in the case of issuer bankruptcy.
解决报告问题的一种方法是确保稳定币始终以与法定货币等值的价格买入或卖出——也就是说，不会产生任何收益或损失。为此，稳定币相关立法必须要求发行方遵守严格的储备金规定，以保障其价值，并设立资产隔离机制，以便在发行方破产时保护持有人的权益免受债权人追索。
Another way is for Congress to reduce tax reporting requirements. There is precedence — personal gains of less than $200 from foreign currency transactions are exempt. However, for stablecoins to be an effective means of payment, businesses would also need to benefit from any reporting exemption adopted and the reporting threshold would need to be raised significantly.
另一种方式是美国国会减少税务申报要求。这方面已有先例——个人因外汇交易获得的收益若低于200美元，可免于申报。然而，要使稳定币成为有效的支付手段，企业也需要能够享受任何申报豁免政策，并且申报门槛还需大幅提高。
As stablecoins become increasingly common in traditional commerce, accounting rules will matter too. It remains unclear whether stablecoins should be reported as cash equivalents or as financial instruments under accounting rules. How they are classified will have a significant impact on how companies report their stablecoin holdings and usage.
随着稳定币在传统商业中日益普及，会计准则的重要性也随之提升。目前尚不明确，按照会计准则，稳定币应被归类为现金等价物还是金融工具。其分类方式将对企业如何报告其稳定币的持有和使用产生重大影响。
Ultimately, if stablecoins are not clearly defined as a form of money — whether as a cash equivalent or negotiable instrument — it could render them impractical as a medium of exchange and would defeat the purpose of potentially significant legislation.
归根结底，如果稳定币没有被明确定义为某种货币形式——无论是现金等价物还是可转让票据——它们作为交换媒介的实用性就会受到影响，也会违背相关重大立法的初衷。
Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell stated in his June 2023 testimony to the House financial services committee that “we do see payment stablecoins as a form of money”.
美联储主席杰伊•鲍威尔(Jay Powell)在2023年6月向众议院金融服务委员会作证时表示：“我们确实将支付型稳定币视为一种货币形式。”
Digital money should be recognised more broadly as a huge leap in the evolution of currency.
数字货币应被更广泛地视为货币演变过程中的一次巨大飞跃。
虚拟货币相关活动存在较大法律风险。请根据监管规范，注意甄别和远离非法金融活动，谨防个人财产和权益受损。