Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author of Black Swan, on Bitcoin

Re:Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author of Black Swan, on Bitcoin by htormey on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @12:42PM (#16215466)

"When you trade gold, you trade “loco” Hong Kong and end up receiving a claim on a stock there, which you might need to move to New Jersey. Banks control the custodian game and governments control banks (or, rather, bankers and government officials are, to be polite, tight together). So Bitcoin has a huge advantage over gold in transactions: clearance does not require a specific custodian. No government can control what code you have in your head."

Regardless of what you think of BTC and its ilk, I think this is a pretty good point about investing in gold.

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Re:Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author of Black Swan, on Bitcoin by rwmj on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @12:51PM (#16215548)

Really though? Unless you're a millionaire you can store gold yourself - in a cheap bank deposit box or (if you're daring) even at home.

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Re:Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author of Black Swan, on Bitcoin by htormey on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @02:05PM (#16216370)

True, but if you are going to be that paranoid how easy is it for you to take your gold across the border?

“According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), it is legal to travel with any amount of cash or other monetary instruments in and out of the United States. However, you must declare your cash to customs if the amount exceeds $10,000 or its foreign equivalent.”

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/travel-airline-cash-9937.html

Traveling with more than 10k of gold or cash is much more noticeable than 10k plus of BTC, aka a piece of paper Wirh some words scribbled on it.

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Re:Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author of Black Swan, on Bitcoin by rwmj on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @02:22PM (#16216608)

If I had a need to do such things I'd probably hire a yacht or a light aircraft. Borders are very porous when you're not travelling in a "mainstream" mode of transport.

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Re:Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author of Black Swan, on Bitcoin by lrns_ on Thursday January 25, 2018 @08:48AM (#16230701)

Well, with bitcoin you can transport 1 trillion with 24 words in your head lol. Good luck transporting that amount in gold.

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