Loading ...Travelling with Gold
Now that Bitcoin has worldwide acceptance, why not introduce Bitgold.
Nick Szabo came up with the idea for Bit Gold prior to Bitcoin. It still involved “mining” but not for actual Gold.
What if there was a secure central depository of audited non-hypothecated Gold on a blockchain. One could present their Bitgold wallet with the appropriate security features for loading on a Worldwide debt card like “WISE” in the local currency. Could be completed online or go to a secure Branch for picking up local currency. DeFi.
If the internet goes down you would have the same concerns as Bitcoin.
It would be the same as carrying a few gold coins but could not be stolen physically.
I like Gold in my possession but for travelling this may be an option.
The other possibility is to purchase Bitgold before you leave your country and when you reach your destination redeem for actual physical gold at a secure branch. No border to cross.
Just a concept.
Good thoughts. If the operator is someone of impeccable integrity and financially prudent, it could be interesting. Maybe a Swiss bank or financial company would be a good candidate. (They would have to not be tied in and or beholden to the BIS and all the other criminal banking cartel members?)
Last year, before my first trip to Russia since the SMO and imposition of sanctions, I did a bunch of research about how best to deal with the money issue. The most important first step was help from a friend in Moscow, who confirmed that I could exchange US cash dollars for rubles in the big Russian banks. That negated the need to exchange dollars for rubles outside of Russia, for instance in Turkey, which would have been at a less favorable exchange rate than within Russia.
My Moscow friend also confirmed that I could open a bank account in Russia, deposit the rubles and be issued a MIR bank card, to draw from the account. This was very convenient. In Russia, like most people for most transactions, I hardly ever used cash.
I had also asked my Moscow friend to try to find out whether or not I could exchange gold eagles for rubles, but she was unable to even find a coin shop. It wasn’t until after I arrived in Moscow that we were able to find one together, where I exchanged coins last year and again this year, to make sure that is an option and to know the procedure.
Also before going to Russia the first time last year, I looked into using Bitcoin to transfer value in a form I could access while in Russia. This appeared to be a possible option, but because I have not used it here in the USA, I found it far to difficult to bother risking, so I didn’t try this and probably won’t unless the entire crypto system becomes easier to navigate. While in Russia, I asked about using crypto, but never ran into anyone with any knowledge about it. Unless and until conversion of crypto becomes at least as easy as exchanging gold coins, I definitely won’t consider using it.
Problem is you need to centralize the storage of gold, which means it’s very easy and convenient for a government or bad actor to just take it or corrupt it with paper etc.
I really do understand the allure of Bitcoin in that sense. The problem for me is that Bitcoin doesn’t have any intrinsic value, and thus, cannot be money.
They already have that business plan in action through Kinesis money. They have various storage facilities for the gold backing their blockchain gold tokens that are physically backed by gold on a 1:1 basis that are audited 4x’s per year. They also allow you to sell any amount of the gold (or silver) you hold in vault at a Point of Sale terminal through a Kinesis card which uses Mastercard to do the transaction. So this is here now but the question is do you trust Mastercard to not turn off your access to capital. I also think gold in hand if better. But this is just convenience. They also allow you to buy/sell at spot on the ABX bullion exchange. But like others have said, what if they don’t honour the contract to redeem your gold when you ask for it. Better in hand.
Have you looked at GLINT-PAY https://glintpay.com/us
Glint offers an alternative to fiat currencies enabling our clients to buy, save and spend allocated gold with the flexibility of Mastercard