Plane with 1.5 ton gold held in Turkey

[wachtwoord]

http://www.pardaphash.com/news/cargo-plane-held-with-15-ton-gold-in-turkey/702588.html

Rumors say this is a payment (of ~$80M) from some African country to Iran which had to be carried out secretively due to the sanctions placed on Iran.

They should have used Bitcoin instead of a plane.

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[beekeeper]

There is only 100 million BTC worth produced so far, hard to get 80 million overnight..

[Carlton Banks]

There is only 100 million BTC worth produced so far, hard to get 80 million overnight..

It wouldn't surprise me if some of these countries with trade/banking embargoes are using Bitcoin, but for transactions of smaller amounts (i.e. amounts significantly lower than the current market capitalization). Spreading a $1million transaction out over a few of days wouldn't look wayward on the BTC price charts, especially if the sender was to also spread the coin buying out across multiple exchanges. Maybe it might account for the consistent daily transfer of several million dollars using Bitcoin that we've been seeing for many months now. I can't think of any feasible way of accounting for it within the trading volumes of the merchants who accept BTC, either now or in the past months that these volumes have been going over the network.

[wachtwoord]

There is only 100 million BTC worth produced so far, hard to get 80 million overnight..

Start with smaller transactions. The market cap of Bitcoin will increase to cope with the added demand and will balance out high enough to carry out transactions where there is demand for.

I'm guessing this payment is not a one time thing.

[Piper67]

There is only 100 million BTC worth produced so far, hard to get 80 million overnight..

At current prices.... That could easily change

[TTBit]

There is only 100 million BTC worth produced so far, hard to get 80 million overnight..

You only need to buy until you have $80M worth. If coins are $200 each when you buy the last one, you only need 400,000 coins.

[kangasbros]

Buying the coin is not the problem, selling them is.

You first buy bitcoin for 80 million, price goes dramatically up. Maybe you want to soften the hit a bit and buy the coins using multiple channels during longer periods.

That will attract shitloads of speculators -> more liquidity -> easier time selling the coins.

Anyway if your alternative is using a plane filled with gold, even bitcoin should work better.

[FreeMoney]

Seriously, if they wanted cash quickly a confiscated plane works pretty damn terribly.

You can't really currently say $80M worth of bitcoin please, since that is not well defined at all. You'd have to figure out how many coins you actually valued at around the same amount. I think right now $80M would be a super awkward mess and impossible if people were actually trying to get dollars quickly in a set amount, but $10M or so you could kind of work out, I'd prefer 400k BTC to $10M right now. I wouldn't be surprised though if in a year $1M value tx were not so bad and the outer limits was around $100M value.

Two and a half years ago it seemed similarly impossible to buy a car. Now a car's value dumped instantly on that one big exchange moves the price a few cents. You'll pay orders of magnitude more for registration in many states than you'll lose in the currency exchange.

[MysteryMiner]

1.5 tons of gold in cargo plane and did not properly calculate the route to Tehran without refueling that causes unnecessary risks? Are they stupid? They could have used Tu-95 that can fly from Moscow to Cuba without refueling if they have them in flying condition.

Iranian government is not stupid. More likely some drug cartels money or CIA black operation.

[cedivad]

This reminds me of dont know how many tons of gold lost with a single ship a couple of months ago... Impossible to be true.

[DoomDumas]

Buying the coin is not the problem, selling them is.

You first buy bitcoin for 80 million, price goes dramatically up. Maybe you want to soften the hit a bit and buy the coins using multiple channels during longer periods.

That will attract shitloads of speculators -> more liquidity -> easier time selling the coins.

Anyway if your alternative is using a plane filled with gold, even bitcoin should work better.

Indeed, BTC are easier than a plane filled with gold !  Even with the price varaition that may occur for that kind of large tx !

[giszmo]

Indeed, BTC are easier than a plane filled with gold !  Even with the price varaition that may occur for that kind of large tx !

If the gold was for Iran, it maybe had to be gold for the demand of gold being huge there right now. It's pointless to discuss bitcoins as a perfect alternative if you don't know the purpose of the delivery.

[wachtwoord]

This is nothing more than speculation. The speculation was that it was a payment from an African nation to Iran. Therefore we are discussing that Bitcoin is more useful for wealth transfer than a plane with gold.

[evoorhees]

I think the point here is not that in this specific case it wouldn't made more sense to use Bitcoin (because, as stated, the market depth is still to small), but rather that Bitcoin is clearly superior to flying plane loads of metal across borders. The efficiency of moving money via BTC vs any other method is so clear.

In other words, we are seeing potential Bitcoin use-cases all around us, and it's simply a matter of time before potential use cases turn into real ones.

[Seth Otterstad]

Bitcoin is clearly superior to flying plane loads of metal across borders

Let's estimate the cost of mining, storing, securing, and transporting the world's gold supply!

[gabbergabe]

lol i love where this thread is heading

[mjc]

There is only 100 million BTC worth produced so far, hard to get 80 million overnight..

I'll sell them 1 BTC for 80 million problem solved.  :-) 

[gabbergabe]

There is only 100 million BTC worth produced so far, hard to get 80 million overnight..

I'll sell them 1 BTC for 80 million problem solved.  :-) 

Is that a physical btc coin that is worth 80 million made out of gold where the BTC sighn spins like the blades on my ride??

[marketersales]

I saw this on the news.