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Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

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Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#141

Post by fragsworth »

JackFr wrote: post #137
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>between two entities usually consists of a heavily guarded, insured, physical shipment of cash or gold. Err, life isn't a james bond movie. For money transfer like this we use bank wires. We dont buy gold and ship it on gunships anymore.

Not true: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-31/venezuela-receives-... http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2013/01/16/germany...

Not only is gold shipped frequently, it's also stolen frequently:

http://rt.com/news/gold-shipment-stolen-france-304/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/16/us-usa-miami-gold-...

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#144

Post by Tarang »

derefr wrote: post #109
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>between two entities usually consists of a heavily guarded, insured, physical shipment of cash or gold. Err, life isn't a james bond movie. For money transfer like this we use bank wires. We dont buy gold and ship it on gunships anymore.

That's only if the two entities can both interact with the global banking infrastructure (i.e. they hold money in reserve currencies, their accounts aren't frozen, etc.) If someone in Argentina wanted to buy something from anywhere else in the world in 2000, for example, they'd basically have to trade natural resources or gold for access to foreign currency, and then spend that.

I think they use reserve accounts with each other backed against gold held in larger central banks. At the end of the day it's still a plain bank wire (I owe you x) hoping for an opposing (we owe you x) to cancel it off. Or for the reserves to build up of what is owed..

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#145

Post by fragsworth »

gfodor wrote: post #111
fragsworth wrote: post #64

Consider this: They paid $0.00 for the transfer of $150 million dollars. A direct (i.e. not based on third party credit, regulations, etc.) transfer of wealth of this magnitude between two entities usually consists of a heavily guarded, insured, physical shipment of cash or gold. Depending how safely you want to make the transfer, and how far the entities are on the globe, it can cost hundreds of thousands to million…

Call me crazy but if I am ever in a position to transfer $150M I'd probably also want a third party involved to make sure the transaction goes smoothly, like a bank. Like we do today. With wire transfers.

Well, you can still have a 3rd party provide oversight for a bitcoin transfer and insurance against failure. Because bitcoin is simple and reliable, these 3rd party fees would be very cheap.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#146

Post by sp332 »

dragontamer wrote: post #130
sp332 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pseudonymous, because if they make a transfer later we'll still know it's the same people.

Precisely. Pseudonymous is not the same as "anonymous". Lets say the IRS are watching this (and why wouldn't they be?). They now know a multi-million dollar transfer has happened, and are beginning to track it down.

There's no evidence this was an American or in US jurisdiction. Is every country's tax agency going to launch an investigation?

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#147

Post by seanmcdirmid »

id_ris wrote: post #69
steven2012 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government can tax anything it wants. For example, barter exchanges are taxable by the government, even if no actual money changed hands. They would just put a dollar figure on the barter, and then tax it accordingly. Bitcoin doesn't have to be a currency in order for the government to tax any gains made on its sale or transfer.

The IRS purposely keeps the definition of income loosely defined so that they can broadly apply it as new schemes and technologies arise. I am sure the IRS could bust you for income tax evasion if you didn't declare your bitcoin appreciation as income.

You would have to declare income at sale on a difference between bought and sold prices. You wouldn't have to declare appreciation as long as you were just holding.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#148

Post by SilasX »

gfodor wrote: post #111
fragsworth wrote: post #64

Consider this: They paid $0.00 for the transfer of $150 million dollars. A direct (i.e. not based on third party credit, regulations, etc.) transfer of wealth of this magnitude between two entities usually consists of a heavily guarded, insured, physical shipment of cash or gold. Depending how safely you want to make the transfer, and how far the entities are on the globe, it can cost hundreds of thousands to million…

Call me crazy but if I am ever in a position to transfer $150M I'd probably also want a third party involved to make sure the transaction goes smoothly, like a bank. Like we do today. With wire transfers.

True, but what's significant here is that bitcoin gives you a zillion third party verifiers (the entire network), and does it for free.

If you meant in terms of escrowing to make sure one party doesn't back out, then I agree that comparison wouldn't apply.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#149

Post by hackinthebochs »

fragsworth wrote: post #54
SeanLuke wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised no one has identified what I think is the most likely situation: bitcoin theft.

Are you suggesting that any given transaction is most likely to be a theft?

I think the point is that the only reason to transfer such a large sum of money is either buying/selling something or stealing. And considering there probably aren't many (if any) things one can buy with that many bitcoins, theft seems to be most likely scenario.

Re: Someone just made a $147,239,214 Bitcoin transfer

#150

Post by throwaway1979 »

termain wrote: post #124
mariusz79 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Size of the current bitcoin economy is "just" $8bln. While it sound like a lot of money, comparing to the rest of the economy it does not even qualify as a pocket change.

So it's definitely worked well enough to create an 8 billion dollar economy?

I was a naysayer until recently. After the senate hearing, I ate crow. Too late to profit at this point though :(
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