One Ton Of Gold Seized At Border Crossing

[Reub]

The gold bars were hidden in a car but evidently not well enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilh5iUQI ... e=youtu.be

[annieB]

I bet it was Frugal's shipment?

[Reub]

He almost made it across. Too bad!

[dualstow]

Goldfinger had the right idea. Paint the car with it.

[Jake]

Wouldn't be seized if it was Bitcoin. Just sayin' http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/ht ... ic.php?t=2

[Pointedstick]

Wouldn't be seized if it was Bitcoin. Just sayin' http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/ht ... ic.php?t=2

Bitcoins would just be seized in a different way. They'd force your online wallet host to freeze the wallet, easy as pie. If you had an offline wallet, they'd take your computer and if the wallet wasn't encrypted, then that's it for your Bitcoins. If it was, they'd get a court order forcing you to reveal the password. If you were savvy enough to have a two-part truecrypt archive with a small dummy wallet in the emergency portion of the archive then you could be safe with your real wallet in the hidden other half… but then in that case you're probably also not the kind of person who would get caught hiding gold bars in your car. 

[Jake]

Wouldn't be seized if it was Bitcoin. Just sayin' http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/ht ... ic.php?t=2

Bitcoins would just be seized in a different way. They'd force your online wallet host to freeze the wallet, easy as pie. If you had an offline wallet, they'd take your computer and if the wallet wasn't encrypted, then that's it for your Bitcoins. If it was, they'd get a court order forcing you to reveal the password. If you were savvy enough to have a two-part truecrypt archive with a small dummy wallet in the emergency portion of the archive then you could be safe with your real wallet in the hidden other half… but then in that case you're probably also not the kind of person who would get caught hiding gold bars in your car. 

That's all true, nothing is completely unseizable. However, imagine a SHTF scenario where you did have to get your assets across a border. Which would you prefer to try transporting between jurisdictions, gold bars or a tiny bit of encrypted data?

[Kriegsspiel]

You guys sound like you'd enjoy Digital Fortress.

[rocketdog]

A few thoughts:

The haul didn't weigh "a ton" if it was only worth $6 million.  At today's prices $6 million in gold weighs only about 250 lbs., whereas an actual ton would be worth around $48 million. 

A U.S. court can't compel you to reveal your password, as that would be a 5th Amendment violation.  Besides, you could just say you forgot the password due to all the stress and trauma of the situation. 

I would think diamonds or other precious jewels would be easier to get across a border than precious metals. 

[dualstow]

A few thoughts:

The haul didn't weigh "a ton" if it was only worth $6 million.  At today's prices $6 million in gold weighs only about 250 lbs., whereas an actual ton would be worth around $48 million. 
...

True. By the time I read the story (elsewhere), it had been corrected with an addendum, "Previous versions of this story reported that the weight was a ton..."