interesting. so "opened" means the owner ripped open the hologram and moved the btc to another address which theoretically prevents you from "stealing" the coins?
1/3 of 100btc gold bar holders did this and the only 1000btc gold bar buyer did this...
edit: seems like this would detract from the resale value over time.
This is happening because those bars are getting sold at MemoryDealers as a way for people to buy BTC with credit cards and paypal.
Some non-tech people just don't mind paying 15-20% extra for the simplicity of not having to bother with Dwolla, exchanges, downloading the client and blockchain, backing up their wallet, etc., I guess.
the reason buyers of these bars are cracking them open to tx to their own privately generated addresses at a higher frequency for the higher denominated bars is b/c there are larger amounts at stake if in case you happen to be a criminal, which you're not.
i just find it interesting b/c of the one's i've bought i've kept them all intact as a way to preserve their collectors value just in case i sell them for a higher price at a later date. i've convinced myself you will not steal their bitcoin value. if they are cracked open i believe they will sell for less than ones not opened.
