I'm just having a hard time trying to figure out what counts as money money and what I'm Yeah, I don't think I'm paying off my student loans with this guy.

我只是很難弄清楚什麼是錢，什麼是我的錢，我不認為我和這傢伙一起還清了學生貸款。

In this lesson, we're going to discover all the different things people have used as money in the past, learn about the different ways we exchange money in the present, and ponder about how the very nature of money might change in the future.

在這一課中，我們將發現過去人們作為貨幣使用的各種東西，瞭解我們現在交換貨幣的不同方式，並思考貨幣的本質在未來可能會發生怎樣的變化。

Money isn't just one thing.

錢不只是一種東西。

It's anything that represents purchasing power.

它是任何代表購買力的東西。

This is why when we discuss forms of money, what we're actually talking about is forms of financial exchange, meaning the ways that purchasing power or money can be transferred from one owner to another.

這就是為什麼當我們討論貨幣形式時，我們實際上談論的是金融交換形式，即購買力或貨幣從一個所有者轉移到另一個所有者的方式。

Before the digital age brought computers and electronic payment, all forms of financial exchange were physical.

在計算機和電子支付進入數字時代之前，所有形式的金融交易都是實物交易。

Most ancient civilizations and tribes had at least one item that they found highly valuable.

大多數古代文明和部落都至少擁有一種他們認為非常珍貴的物品。

Pieces of metal, scraps of leather, shells, or crops like wheat or corn.

金屬片、皮革碎片、貝殼或小麥或玉米等農作物。

These are what is known as commodity money because their value is in being a commodity or a good that can be exchanged for others.

這些貨幣被稱為商品貨幣，因為它們的價值在於其是一種商品或可以與他人交換的物品。

Metal and leather were valuable because they could be used to make things.

金屬和皮革之所以珍貴，是因為它們可以用來製造東西。

Shells could be used to make jewelry.

貝殼可以用來製作首飾。

And wheat and corn were valuable because, well, who doesn't need food?

小麥和玉米很值錢，因為誰不需要糧食呢？

Later on, some civilizations began using representative money, money that isn't a commodity itself, but represents ownership of the commodity and can be traded for it at any time.

後來，一些文明開始使用代用貨幣，這種貨幣本身不是商品，但代表商品的所有權，可以隨時進行交易。

At one point, all money in the United States represented real life gold.

曾幾何時，美國的所有貨幣都代表著現實生活中的黃金。

That hundred dollar bill in your pocket meant the government was holding onto a hundred dollars worth of gold for you, and you can trade it in or give it to somebody else if you wanted.

你口袋裡的百元大鈔意味著政府為你保管著價值 100 美元的黃金，如果你願意，你可以把它換掉或送給別人。

This was known as the gold standard, and it ended in the 1970s.

這就是所謂的金本位制，它在 20 世紀 70 年代結束。

But wait, if money today doesn't represent gold, what does it represent?

但等等，如果今天的貨幣不代表黃金，那它又代表什麼呢？

That's the thing.

這就是問題所在。

It no longer represents any physical commodity.

它不再代表任何實物商品。

Our money today is known as fiat money, meaning the only thing it represents is a promise, a promise by the government that it legally has to be accepted as payment.

我們今天的貨幣被稱為法定貨幣，這意味著它唯一代表的是一種承諾，一種政府的承諾，它在法律上必須被接受為支付手段。

The most obvious example of financial exchange and the strongest example of fiat money is cash, physical bills, and coins.

金融交換最明顯的例子和法定貨幣最有力的例子就是現金、實物鈔票和硬幣。

Say you give someone a $10 bill, a $2 bill, and a quarter.

假設你給了別人一張 10 美元、一張 2 美元和一個 25 美分。

That means you just lost $12.25 worth of purchasing power, and the other person just gained that much.

這意味著你失去了價值 12.25 美元的購買力，而對方卻獲得了這麼多。

A very interesting fact about cash is that governments are very keen on making sure that the materials used to make money are worth less than the value of the money themselves.

關於現金的一個非常有趣的事實是，政府非常熱衷於確保用於製造貨幣的材料的價值低於貨幣本身的價值。

For instance, if I could melt down a quarter and get a dollar's worth of metal, then a quarter and a dollar would be worth the same thing, right?

例如，如果我能熔化 25 美分，得到價值 1 美元的金屬，那麼 25 美分和 1 美元的價值就是一樣的，對嗎？

As a matter of fact, the U.S. government had to change the way they made pennies in 1982 because the raw copper they used to make them were worth more than the pennies themselves.

事實上，1982 年美國政府不得不改變製造硬幣的方式，因為用於製造硬幣的銅原料比硬幣本身更值錢。

Don't go melting down your pre-82 pennies, though.

不過，別把你的 82 年前的硬幣熔化了。

It is very illegal to destroy still circulating money.

銷燬仍在流通的貨幣是非常違法的。

If pennies ever leave circulation, though, go for it.

不過，如果硬幣不再流通，那就去買吧。

Make a nickel off of that old penny.

從那舊便士上賺五分錢。

Most of the financial exchanges we do today, though, are not physical.

不過，我們今天進行的大多數金融交易都不是實物交易。

Most of our money is in digital bank accounts.

我們的大部分錢都存在數字銀行賬戶裡。

They're interesting because they kind of blur the line between representative money and fiat money.

它們很有趣，因為它們模糊了代議制貨幣和法定貨幣之間的界限。

Think of it this way.

這樣想吧。

If the number that you see on your bank account balance represents an actual amount of physical cash in a bank vault somewhere, but that bank vault cash is fiat money, is your bank account balance representative or fiat?

如果你在銀行賬戶餘額上看到的數字代表某處銀行金庫中的實際現金數額，但該銀行金庫中的現金是法定貨幣，那麼你的銀行賬戶餘額是代表法定貨幣還是法定貨幣？

Some people have decided that digital bank account balances and electronic transfers should be considered an entirely new category of money, electronic money.

有些人認為，數字銀行賬戶餘額和電子轉賬應被視為一種全新的貨幣--電子貨幣。

There are tons of ways we can move money from our own bank account to somebody else's bank account.

我們有很多方法可以把錢從自己的銀行賬戶轉到別人的銀行賬戶。

One way we do this is with paper checks.

其中一種方法就是使用紙質支票。

Checks order banks to transfer a specific amount of money from one person's account into someone else's.

支票命令銀行將特定金額的資金從一個人的賬戶轉入另一個人的賬戶。

The recipient presents the check to their bank, and these numbers here tell the bank what account to pull the money out of.

收款人將支票交給銀行後，這些數字就會告訴銀行從哪個賬戶取款。

Debit cards are basically the same thing, which is why they're sometimes called check cards.

借記卡基本上是一回事，所以有時也被稱為支票卡。

These numbers here identify your bank account, and when you swipe your debit card at a store or input the numbers when shopping online, it authorizes the store's bank to automatically pull money from your account into theirs.

這些數字可以識別您的銀行賬戶，當您在商店刷卡或在網上購物時輸入這些數字時，就會授權商店的銀行自動從您的賬戶中劃撥資金到他們的賬戶中。

With credit cards, you pay using the issuer's money, which you are then responsible for paying back to them later.

使用信用卡時，您使用髮夾機構的資金支付，然後您有責任在日後向髮夾機構還款。

Using a credit card is just like taking out a small loan, and if you don't pay the money back, you might not be able to take out big loans when you need them.

使用信用卡就像小額貸款一樣，如果你不還錢，當你需要大額貸款時，你可能就借不到錢了。

We'll talk more about credit cards and loans later on in the course.

關於信用卡和貸款，我們將在後面的課程中詳細討論。

People often confuse debit cards and credit cards, but they're two very different things.

人們經常把借記卡和信用卡混為一談，但它們是完全不同的兩種東西。

Debit cards transfer your money right then.

借記卡當時就能轉賬。

Credit cards transfer the issuer's money, and then you have to pay it back later.

信用卡是把髮卡行的錢轉給你，然後你再還錢。

These are the most common forms of financial exchange, especially in day-to-day life, but there are others that you'll occasionally see.

這些是最常見的金融交易形式，尤其是在日常生活中，但還有一些其他形式，您偶爾也會看到。

With auto-drafts, or ACH payments, you provide your bank account details to a person or company, and they automatically pull money out at scheduled times.

通過自動提款或 ACH 支付，您可以向某個人或公司提供您的銀行賬戶資訊，他們會在預定時間自動提取資金。

This is useful for things like monthly subscriptions.

這對按月訂購等情況非常有用。

The opposite of this is direct deposit, where you provide your bank account details to a person or company, and they automatically put money in at scheduled times.

與此相反的是直接存款，即您向某個人或公司提供您的銀行賬戶資訊，他們會在預定時間自動存入資金。

This is how many employers pay their employees on payday.

許多僱主就是這樣在發薪日支付員工工資的。

You might have heard of wire transfers in spy movies, but they're not quite so exciting in real life.

您可能在間諜電影中聽說過電匯，但在現實生活中，電匯並不那麼令人興奮。

A wire transfer is simply a speedier way to move money between banks, and unlike many other forms of financial exchange, wire transfers can be done internationally.

電匯只是在銀行間轉移資金的一種更快捷的方式，與許多其他形式的金融交易不同，電匯可以在國際範圍內進行。

Wire transfers can also be used for much larger amounts of money than other forms.

電匯的金額也比其他形式大得多。

All great reasons for an international spy to request wire transfers, but for most of us, it's just a good way to pay a lot of money at once, like for a house or a new car.

這些都是國際間諜要求電匯的理由，但對我們大多數人來說，電匯只是一次性支付大量資金的好方法，比如買房子或新車。

With the majority of financial exchanges today being virtual, it's hard to imagine what money might evolve into further into the future.

如今，大多數金融交易都是虛擬的，很難想象未來的貨幣會發展成什麼樣子。

Some people say that the future of money is in cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin.

有人說，貨幣的未來在於加密貨幣，比如比特幣。

This would be unlike anything we've ever seen before, because cryptocurrency isn't backed by anything, not even a government's promise.

這將是我們從未見過的，因為加密貨幣沒有任何支持，甚至沒有政府的承諾。

It instead gets its value from how useful it is.

相反，它的價值來自於它的實用性。

And with more and more high-profile companies like Microsoft, Starbucks, and AT&T accepting Bitcoin, its usefulness seems to be rising quickly.

隨著微軟、星巴克和美國電話電報公司等越來越多的知名企業接受比特幣，比特幣的實用性似乎正在迅速上升。

Now, I mentioned bank accounts a lot in this video, but did you know that banks are far from the only businesses who are solely focused on money?

現在，我在本視頻中多次提到銀行賬戶，但你知道嗎，銀行並不是唯一隻關注金錢的企業？

In the next lesson, we're going to be learning about all the different kinds of financial institutions that make your wallet their business.

在下一課中，我們將瞭解各種以您的錢包為業務的金融機構。

See you then!

到時候見