[20181017]IF11004_金融创新：数字资产和首次硬币发行.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov October 17, 2018Financial Innovation: Digital Assets and Initial Coin OfferingsThis In Focus provides an overview of policy issues regarding “digital assets” in the capital markets. Digital assets (often referred to as “crypto assets,” among other terminology) are digital representations of value made possible by cryptography and blockchain (see CRS Report R45116, Blockchain: Background and Policy Issues). They were originally designed to facilitate transfer of value without a trusted third-party intermediary (such as a bank). While debate remains as to the proper terms for and classification of these assets, a commonly cited industry source on the topic, Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investors Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond, provides a categorization of digital assets into three main types: Cryptocurrencies serve as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit measurement of account. Cryptocurrencies themselves often have little inherent value, but they are used to price the value of other assets (for more details, see CRS In Focus IF10824, Introduction to Financial Services: “Cryptocurrencies”). Bitcoin, launched in 2009widely considered the first di