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94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

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Re: 94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

#81

Post by compiler-guy »

As far as the fees being so cheap, and every one else guessing about how expensive it would be to do it in a normal banking situation, F. Scott Fitzgerald is relevant:

"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different." (The Rich Boy, 1926)

All of the information normal people--like you and me--use to price transactions like this is completely irrelevant. Rich people have access to many services and price structures that are completely different than normal people. Any guess about what it costs to make a transaction like this via normal channels is likely completely wrong (other than "free", assuming they are doing business with the bank in question).

Re: 94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

#82

Post by jonknee »

radlad wrote: post #60
freediver wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My US bank account has zero transaction fees and if I had this kind of money I do not see why I could not transfer for zero fees (don't see a limit anywhere). And if making smaller transactions, apps like Venmo can transfer money both instantly and free (unlike Bitcoin).

Banks typically have limits on how much you can withdraw or transfer with any given method in a day.

Banks typically treat billionaire customers differently too, it's absolutely ludicrous to think they'd have to use hundreds of thousands of transactions (let alone pay for them!).

Re: 94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

#83

Post by arcticbull »

pavlov wrote: post #58
farisjarrah wrote: post #25

From the top twitter comment: > 0.06BTC in fees? Why so expensive? Just gotta say, its pretty amazing we live in a world where 1 billion dollars can get transferred pseudo-anonymously in a reasonable time frame, only costing the transfer party $600. As a really stupid, non-real-world comparison, Western Union has a transfer limit of $2500 per transaction, and a $20 fee per transaction. If you were to initiate a $1,00…

International wire transfers between USD accounts usually cost about $25 regardless of the amount. There's a lot of dollars moving around in the global financial system quickly and affordably, Bitcoin advocates just don't seem to know about it for some reason.

International wires are a bad example because they charge a huge FOREX spread. For a high-ticket transfer, you'd need to use a brokerage for the exchange first, which is also very cheap, but a bit more than $25 ($20 per million at InteractiveBrokers). Then a very cheap domestic wire for the last mile. Or, for small-ticket transfer TransferWise is around 0.85% for the whole exchange.

Re: 94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

#85

Post by jonknee »

freediver wrote: post #77
radlad wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks typically have limits on how much you can withdraw or transfer with any given method in a day.

Well if I were to show up at the bank wanting to transfer $1bn I am sure I would get all kind of stares, but can not see a technical reason why they would not be able to do it. Difference with Bitcoin is you can do it completely anonymously, for all the good and bad things that go with that.

> completely anonymously

Except we're all out here talking about this and no one knows what other $1bn transactions have occurred in the banking system today so we're not talking about those.

Re: 94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

#86

Post by simias »

bureaucrat wrote: post #32

Watching things like this, I think bitcoin could eventually replace the government-backed currency. Everyone can watch them move. If you spend 1$ from that wallet to buy even a mars bar, your identity will be known to others. How CLEAN and clear is that?

Only if people own their wallets and transactions happen on-chain. We're far from that point, both for technical and social reasons. I like having my money in a bank and using my Visa card because I feel safe doing it. If I lose my card or get a bogus transaction? Just use your insurance. Beyond that, if you want additional services not provided by a blockchain such as getting a loan, I'm sure banks will ask you to put your money into one of their accounts so that they can do... banking. I love it when a cryptocurrency enthusiasts replies to "bitcoin is useless in the real world" with "well actually my Coinbase-issued off-chain-settled Visa card works really well thank you". Congrats, you've got yourself a bank.

If your wallet is actually owned by a bank then chances are your actual purchases will be obfuscated. Banks will only settle transactions with other trusted establishments "in bulk" to speed things up and reduce fees.

Don't drink the overenthusiastic cryptofanatic kool-aid, banks are going nowhere. Those who say that cryptocurrencies can replace them either don't understand banks or they don't understand cryptocurrency. Probably both.

Re: 94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

#87

Post by avip »

farisjarrah wrote: post #25

From the top twitter comment: > 0.06BTC in fees? Why so expensive? Just gotta say, its pretty amazing we live in a world where 1 billion dollars can get transferred pseudo-anonymously in a reasonable time frame, only costing the transfer party $600. As a really stupid, non-real-world comparison, Western Union has a transfer limit of $2500 per transaction, and a $20 fee per transaction. If you were to initiate a $1,00…

You don't pay the official consumer fee for such transactions, and you don't pay the stated exchange rate for exchanging $mm for other currencies.

Re: 94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

#88

Post by greiskul »

blunte wrote: post #21
quotemstr wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. It seems silly to perform this transaction all at once. The size of this transaction magnifies the consequences of any sort of error and attracts what I'm guessing is very unwanted attention.

If you’re a whale and want to someday liquidate this, ideally at higher value, you want the world to see big things like this. It will remind people that bitcoin network is still very much alive despite the repeated death sentences made by supposed financial experts.

Well, on the other hand you can also look at this and think, I better not put any money into bitcoin, cause there are individuals out there that could single-handedly destroy the price by cashing out. And you might say, it is in their interest not to do that, but I think it is in their interest to be the the first one to do that.

Re: 94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

#89

Post by [deleted] »

radlad wrote: post #60
freediver wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My US bank account has zero transaction fees and if I had this kind of money I do not see why I could not transfer for zero fees (don't see a limit anywhere). And if making smaller transactions, apps like Venmo can transfer money both instantly and free (unlike Bitcoin).

Banks typically have limits on how much you can withdraw or transfer with any given method in a day.

[deleted]

Re: 94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallet

#90

Post by mlindner »

compiler-guy wrote: post #81

As far as the fees being so cheap, and every one else guessing about how expensive it would be to do it in a normal banking situation, F. Scott Fitzgerald is relevant: "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is…

Important qualifier on that that's missed for most "the very rich". The "rich" are often quite penny pinchers. My grandfather is "rich" (several millions, and in a very cheap place to live in the midwest) but he lived his entire life being extremely strict on spending and controlled personal finances very carefully. He still complains when there's large money to be spent on something that should be cheap.
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