3 ms·

At that point why use gold at all? If the value is in the marking, not the gold itself, then there are much better ways to create hard to duplicate markings tha

• petre 7y ago
  You can view it as certified gold, where the certificate is stamped directly on the item by the CA (refinery). There is a certain added value in the marking because the marked piece is standardised in purity and weight, so one used to be sure they were getting the real deal. Well, not anymore. That's exactly what the forgers are speculating: the market price difference between regular and marked gold.
  • dpark 7y ago
    That’s not speculation. That’s arbitrage. But it’s also not traditional arbitrage. The producers of these counterfeit bars would likely be delighted to have the real gold minting houses certify and stamp their gold for a reasonable price. But they can’t because of sanctions or possibly capital controls. This counterfeiting is about bypassing market controls to trade illicit gold.
  • mruts 7y ago
    They are not looking to actually obtain any exposure on the stamped gold or illicit gold. The goal here is to arbitrage between these two prices and while doing so convert dirty money into clean money. Speculation is the last thing these people are doing or want.