In the last class, we talked about the difference and connection between blockchain and digital currency, in which we mentioned cryptocurrency and token. The former originate from Bitcoin, and its purpose is to act as the currency for internet payment. Then where is the latter from? Why is the translation of "token" more reasonable? What impact will “tokenization” have on our world? Let me answer these questions for you one by one.
01 Token's past and present
Before it was used in the blockchain, Token already existed in network communication. The original meaning was “token, signaling”.
Before Ethernet became a universal protocol for LANs, IBM had pushed a LAN protocol called Token Ring Network. Each node in the network passes a token in turn, and only the node that gets the token can communicate. This token can be understood as a cypher, and the cypher is authorized for certain operation authority. Only when the cypher is correct, you have the right to exercise this part of the operation authority.
Therefore, no matter a token or a cypher, it is actually a right, or a proof of equity.
Thanks to the Ethereum Smart Contract and its ERC-20 standard (ERC-20, a token interface), the blockchain's Token is widely recognized. Based on the Ethereum ERC-20 standard, many projects use the form of Token to carry out ICO (initial coin offerings, also translated as “the first issue of tokens”), and the word Token is therefore linked to the coin.
At the end of November 2017, two Chinese Blockchain Authorities Yuan Dao and Meng Yan proposed a new translation method, that is, the token, meaning "Circulating Encrypted Digital Equity Proof", this Token can represent any equity and value, not just currency.
Token finally returned to its original meaning.
02 Three elements of Token
From the definition of Token, "Circulating Encrypted Digital Equity Proof", we can see that Token has three indispensable elements: digital equity proof, encryption and circulability.
The first is the digital equity proof, which represents a right, an intrinsic value. What behind it may be equities, bonds, bills, points, or multiple powers. This value attribute of the certificate comes from the recognition of the society's endorsement of its value, which is the consensus we mentioned in the second class of the [Blockchain Lecture].
The second is encryption, which means that the authenticity of the certificate, the tamper-proof modification, and the protection of privacy are guaranteed by cryptography. Every token is a right protected by cryptography.
The third is circulability, which means that the token must be able to circulate in a network. It can participate in transactions, transfers, exchanges, etc., thereby realizing value transfer.
Imagine what will the world look like if our real-world proof of various rights (such as equity, bonds, notes, points, etc.) and even various standard or non-standard goods and services can be digitized, tokenized, and circulated in the blockchain world?
Human assets and values may be fully activated. This is the ideal world of Tokenization.
03 The arrival of the Token economy
In order to facilitate the understanding of the "ideal world" described in the second part, we take a game as an example.
This is a small game built on the Ethereum called Decentraland. It works like this:
After the game developer made the game, the team kept a part of the Token, and all the other tokens flew into the market (the total amount of Token is fixed).
In the game system, 60,000 pieces of land are publicly auctioned, and in the case of bidding, the Token issued by the game is required.
After the auction, the owner of the land began to build his own kingdom and built various buildings on the land. Over time, the kingdom and the land were getting more and more valuable.
At this time, if someone wants to buy your land, they must pay more Token. Since the total amount of Token is fixed, when there are more and more game participants, the price of Token in the secondary market is getting higher and higher under the influence of supply and demand.
This also means that the total value of this game continues to rise.
Why is there such a situation in which the ecology can grow on its own and increase in value? The essential cause is Token.
On the one hand, gamers hope that their land and Token will continue to appreciate, and they will continue to invite more users to participate. On the other hand, game developers don't have to worry about how to recover the game development and maintenance costs, as they hold a part of Token in their hands, which has also appreciated by now.
In addition to Decentraland, currently there are projects such as Steemit and Bihu.
For example, in Bihu, you can get coins by registering, liking other posts, and writing articles. Your attention, appreciation and writing ability can be realized here as part of the interest of the platform. You will treat Bihu as your own business, you will give it advice to make it develop forever. All the participants are tied to the interests of this platform and hope to grow together with this platform.
This is the eco charm that Token brings, and its essence is an interest mechanism that encourages everyone to work for a common goal.
Based on the technology of blockchain, large-scale strong collaboration between people is achieved through positive and negative incentives.
Finally, let's summarize what we learned today:
Token is a Circulating Encrypted Digital Equity Proof, and the Token economy constructed by Token is: a system based on blockchain technology that realizes large-scale strong collaboration between people through positive and negative incentives.
区块链讲座第八期：通证与通证经济
我们上一期主题是区块链与数字货币的区别与联系，其中提到了加密数字货币（cryptocurrency）和token，前者起源于比特币，其目的就是作为互联网支付的货币；那么后又者是怎么来的呢？为什么说“通证”这种译法更合理？“通证化”会给我们的世界带来哪些影响......下面就让我为大家一一解答这些问题。
01 Token的前世今生
Token在没跟区块链搭上关系前，其实早以应用在网络通讯中，原意为“令牌、信令”。
在以太网成为局域网的普遍协议之前，IBM曾经推过一个局域网协议，叫做Token Ring Network，令牌环网。网络中的每一个节点轮流传递一个令牌，只有拿到令牌的节点才能通讯。这种令牌可以理解成一种暗号，而暗号被授权一定的操作权限，只有暗号对得上，你才有权利行使这部分的操作权限。
因此，无论是令牌，还是暗号，其实都是一种权利，或者说权益证明。
而区块链的Token被广泛认识，则归功于以太坊智能合约及其订立的ERC-20标准（ERC-20，简单理解就是一个代币接口）。基于以太坊ERC-20这个标准，很多项目采取发行Token的形式来进行ICO（initial coin offerings，又译为“代币首次发行”），Token一词也因此就和币（coin）挂钩，被国内广泛译为“代币”。
而这个“约定俗成”的翻译，终于在2017年11月底，在区块链大咖元道与孟岩的对话中被推翻，他们提出了一个新的译法，即通证，意思就是“可流通的加密数字权益证明”，这个Token可以代表任何权益和价值，而不仅仅局限于货币。
Token终于再次回归其最初的含义。
02 通证三要素
从通证的定义“可流通的加密数字权益证明”，我们可以看出通证有三个不可或缺的要素，分别为：数字权益证明、加密和可流通。
第一是数字权益证明，它代表的是一种权利，一种内在价值。其背后可能是股权、债券，可能是票据、积分，多种权力都有可能。通证的这种价值属性，来源于社会对其价值背书方信用的认可，也就是我们在【区块链讲座】第二期提到的共识。
第二是加密，也就是说通证的真实性、防篡改性、保护隐私等能力，由密码学予以保障。每一个通证，就是由密码学保护的一份权利。
第三是可流通，也是说通证必须能够在一个网络中流动，它是可以参与交易、转让、兑换等，从而实现价值转移。
试想一下，我们现实世界的各种权益证明（比如股权、债券、票据、积分等）、甚至各种标准或非标准的商品和服务，都可以数字化、Token化，放到区块链世界里去流通，那世界将会变成什么样子？
人类的资产和价值，可能将完全被激活。这就是Token化的理想世界。
03 通证经济的到来
为了方便大家理解第二部分最后描述的“理想世界”，我们拿一款游戏来举例。
这是搭建在以太坊上的一款小游戏，名叫Decentraland。它是这样运转的：
游戏开发者在游戏制作出来后，自己团队保留一部分Token，其他Token全部流入市场（Token发行总量固定）。
在游戏系统中，有6万块土地公开拍卖，而参与竞拍，则需要用该游戏发行的Token。
竞拍结束后，土地的主人开始建设自己的王国，在土地上盖各种建筑，长此以往，王国和土地都越来越值钱。
这时候，如果有人要想来购买你的土地，就必须支付更多的Token。而由于Token的总量是固定的，当游戏参与者越来越多，在供求关系的作用下，二级市场上Token的价格就越来越高。
这也意味着，这款游戏的总价值，不断水涨船高。
为什么会出现这种生态能自行生长且不断增值的情况？究其根本原因，就在于Token。
一方面，游戏玩家希望自己手里的土地和Token不断升值，就会不断邀请更多的用户参与；另一方面，游戏开发者不用烦恼游戏开发和维护成本如何收回，因为手里保留着一部分Token，如今也已经升值了。
除了Decentraland，目前还有steemit、币乎这样的项目。
比如在币乎，你注册就能得币，点赞能得币，写文章也能得币，你的注意力、鉴赏力、写作能力都能在这里变现为一部分币乎平台的权益，你会把币乎当做自己的企业去做，会给它提建议，希望它能永久发展，所有的参与者都和这个平台的利益捆绑在一起，都希望和这个平台共同成长。
这就是Token带来的生态魅力，其本质就是一个利益机制，促使大家为了共同的目标而努力。
最后，我们来总结下今天的内容：
通证是可流通的加密数字权益证明，而由通证构建起来的通证经济则是：以区块链技术为基础，通过经济正向激励和反向激励来实现人与人大规模协作的体系。
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