翻譯The Comprehensive Guide to NFTs
Are there any areas of controversy within crypto, blockchain, and NFTs?
數字貨幣，區塊鏈，NFT有爭議點嗎？
Blockchain technology has seen its fair share of skepticism and criticism. At this point, I suppose we should be used to it!
區塊鏈技術受到了懷疑和批評，此時，我認爲我們應該習慣於它！
Since the dawn of time, new inventions and innovations have given rise to confusion regarding the unfamiliar new product. In some unfortunate cases, this has set the stage for consumers making purchases in which they did not fully understand what they were buying—or even for outright fraud.
從一開始，新的發明者和創新者就對這個陌生的產品提出了質疑。在一些不幸的案例中，這些對知識的不瞭解可能會帶來買賣中的詐騙。
The good news is that blockchain-backed technology is becoming more familiar to everyone, including people who may not be on the leading edge of tech (or tech savvy at all). The essentials of what blockchain is and how it works are getting out there. Everyone has heard of Bitcoin—which is a start— even if they don’t know how it works or how to buy it. While there is still the potential for miscommunication, an increasingly educated consumer base means that in general there is less confusion around blockchain technology.
好消息是，基於區塊鏈的技術已經被大家熟知，包括那些可能沒有在技術前沿的人們。區塊鏈技術是什麼，如何運作已經非常明確。每個人都聽過比特幣，這就是了解區塊鏈的開始，儘管他們並不懂比特幣如何運作，如何購買。但是，這裏仍然有潛在的誤解風險，有一羣受高等教育的消費者爲基礎，區塊鏈技術的誤解會少很多。
The even better news is that, when it comes to NFTs, their unique technology is providing a strong counter to much of the criticism that their predecessors experienced.
更好的消息是，在NFT領域，他們獨特的技術正在對後續的批評者提供強列的支持。
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, for example, have long been criticized for their energy consumption and carbon footprint. How can a digital coin—that you can’t even hold or touch—have a carbon footprint in the “real world”? The answer is: because Bitcoin maintains its blockchain by mining, the miners will always need electricity to power the computers doing the mining. As Bitcoin has grown—and more and more of the coins have been mined—the cost of mining has accelerated ever upward. A study by the University of Cambridge published in early 2021 reported that, globally, Bitcoin mining now uses approximately as much electricity each year as the country of Argentina. All of this power use raises the specter of carbon emissions and elevates the carbon footprint of Bitcoin. And alas, most of the energy powering Bitcoin mining does not yet come from renewable sources (even though Bitcoin enthusiasts are promising that this is soon going to change). The good news is that contemporary NFTs can be produced in ways that have only the smallest fraction of the environmental impact of something like a Bitcoin (again, more on this later.) If they are rolled out the right way, NFTs won’t have to create the energy drain that Bitcoins do.
像比特幣這樣的數字貨幣，曾經因爲能源消耗和碳足跡被詬病。一個你甚至沒有持有或是觸摸不到的貨幣，是如何在現實世界裏有碳足跡的？答案是，由於挖礦，礦工總是需要電力來維持運算。隨着比特幣的發展，越來越多的數字貨幣被挖礦產生，挖礦的成本前所未有地提高了。2021年早些時間，劍橋大學的一項調研指出，在全球，比特幣挖礦已經用了阿根廷一年的電力。這些能源的使用增多了碳排放和比特幣的碳足跡。而且大部分的比特幣挖礦能源並不是可再生資源（儘管比特幣愛好者表示這一現狀很快會改變）。好消息時，NFT可以用更環保的方式鑄造——對環境的影響只相當於挖比特幣的一小部分。如果它們以正確的方式被生產出來，NFT就不會像比特幣那樣造成能源的枯竭。
Other criticisms of blockchain products have come from enabling “pump and dump” schemes, or schemes in which a cryptocurrency with no value has been launched to intentionally dupe newcomers. For example, as the value of Bitcoin slowly but steadily began to increase in the early 2010s, the cryptocurrency market became flooded with new “coins” launched every week. Many of the creators of these new coins were just out to make a quick buck. To make this fast money, they might launch a crypto in connection to a meaningless gimmick—“The new alt-coin for parakeet lovers, which everyone with a parakeet will want to use!”—and then a billion coins would be released. Half would be put up for sale on a crypto exchange, but half would be retained by the creators of the coin. If the value of that new coin reached just one cent, for example, the creators of the coin could sell their half a billion ParakeetCoin, clear $20M out of thin air, and walk away. Coinholders (and parakeet lovers everywhere) would feel duped and taken advantage of.
其它對於區塊鏈產品的評價如“拉高後低賣”的騙局，或是發佈沒有價值的幣來愚弄新入場的用戶。例如，當2010年左右比特幣價值緩慢但穩步上升時，數字貨幣市場每週都充斥着剛發佈的新幣。這些新幣的創作者只是想賺快錢。爲了賺錢，他們會採用一些噱頭——如對鸚鵡愛好者發行鸚鵡幣，然後十億的幣就被造了出來。一半會用於交易所售賣，一半會被髮行人保留。如果新幣達到了一分錢，幣的發行者就會賣掉他手裏的幣，憑空賺了2000萬美金。幣的持有者會感到被玩弄，被利用了。
But NFTs tied to works of art, iconic images, and other unique and meaningful content present an entirely new arrangement, and eliminate the possibility of a creator seeking to quickly and anonymously “cash out.” It’s an entirely different proposition. The ownership chain is clear. Those selling the NFT do so in an environment of transparency. Potential buyers can research who sellers are, and can work to genuinely understand the product being offered. The value, the integrity, and the uniqueness of the item being purchased as an NFT is assured.
但是NFT與藝術品、頭像和其它獨特且有意義的內容連接，進而消除了創作者想要快速套現的可能性。這是個全然一新的商業創意。所有權非常清晰。那些賣掉NFT的人是在一個完全透明的環境中做的。潛在的買家可以搜索到誰是賣家，也能努力弄清楚是誰提供了報價。在購買NFT時，確保了價值、整合和NFT的獨特性。
Other areas of controversy have also arisen from copyright violation. This is a problem in just about every visual media. While copyright violation appears to be rare in the world of NFT art, there have been a few documented cases. For example, in early 2021, both CNN and VICE reported on artists claiming that someone had copied one of their original digital artworks and sold it as an NFT without permission. When this happens, the original artist is forced to pursue a copyright claim. With the number of NFTs for sale expanding exponentially, this type of violation will probably keep occurring.
其它的有爭議的領域就是在侵犯版權的問題上，在每一個可視化媒介都會遇到這個問題。然而，在NFT世界裏，侵犯版權的現象會很少見，有幾個已記載的案例。例如，在2021年，CNN和VICE報道了一個案例，有藝術家聲稱他的作品被另一個人剽竊而且未經許可，以NFT的形式售賣。當這件事發生時，原創的藝術家被強制購買版權聲明。隨着大量的NFT售賣，類似這樣的案例可能還會出現。
However, the good news is that because the technology is digital, it will be much easier to 1) report the offense, 2) locate the bad actor, and 3) ensure that the problematic NFT is dealt with appropriately. When an artist alleges their work has been copied and sold without permission in the physical world, there can be a great deal of (slow and tedious) work to determine exactly who was involved and where all the inappropriate copies are. In the digital world, this kind of problem—once users become aware of it—can be remedied much more quickly, and the location of any illicit work is never in question. In the meantime, security for visual artists will continue to evolve so that inappropriate use is prevented. (For example, when displaying their work on their own websites, many visual artists now use a “floating banner” that always obscures a small portion of their work. This prevents it from being digitally captured.)
然而，好消息是由於數字化技術，如下事情會變得容易 1）上報侵權 2）定位問題 3）確保這個NFT爭議被合理地解決。當一位藝術家聲稱他的作品被抄襲了，而且未經他的允許在現實世界售賣，可以通過大量的工作來確定抄襲者是誰以及在哪。在數字世界裏，只要及時發現，這類問題是可以被迅速補救的，定位問題也從不是難事。同時，與此同時，視覺藝術家會持續進化，進而會減少不恰當的呈現方式（例如，當他們在個人網站上展出自己的作品時，很多藝術家會採用浮動Banner,並對一部分模糊處理，這樣做會減少被數字化抓取的可能）。
To conclude, blockchain technology is not new to criticism. However, the earliest critics of technologies like cryptocurrency have gradually had over a decade to be proved wrong. The criticisms being leveled at NFTs now are few, are much less daunting than what cryptos faced, and there is every reason to feel confident that evolving technology will allow us to solve any problems that might arise as we move forward.
總結起來，對於批評者而言，區塊鏈技術並不新鮮。然而，經過了近十年的爭論，可以證明對這一技術批評是錯的。值得相信的是，不斷髮展的技術將會讓我們得以解決未來可能出現的問題。