5 ms·
Sounds like the start of the plot for a heist movie
by ToddWBurgess 1y ago
Sounds like the start of the plot for a heist movie
- amelius 1y agoOr a deep sea diving movie
- junga 1y agoHonest question: does this necessarily require the physical transport of gold?
- reactordev 1y agoNot necessarily. It’s fair to wager that the gold they speak of is gold securities and not literal gold bars because if they try to collect gold bars they’re going to be sad.
- corford 1y agoNot sure for Italy but I believe in Germany's case it is physical bars
- kasey_junk 1y agoThe gold in question is physical gold. Almost certainly standardized bars.
- reactordev 1y agoConsidering the US only has 8,000 tonnes of gold total, this is going to be interesting. I don’t think their gold is just sitting in a closet in manhattan.
- ceejayoz 1y agohttps://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/goldvault.html https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/goldvault.html > As of 2024, the vault housed approximately 507,000 gold bars, with a combined weight of 6,331 metric tons. The vault is able to support this weight because it rests on the bedrock of Manhattan Island, 80 feet below street level and 50 feet below sea level. > Following the verification process, the gold is moved to one of the vault’s 122 compartments, where each compartment contains gold held by a single account holder (meaning that gold is not commingled between account holders). It’s a very fancy closet.
- tomw1808 1y agoactually the closet isn't fancy, its just the content. Like HN, I don't visit the site for the great design, I come for the golden content. ... Sry, I had to...
- pglevy 1y agoThanks for the link! I wonder how this works. Is there just no practical impact of the "book value" being so far off the market price? Surely any exchange is done at the prevailing rates. > The market value of a gold bar depends on its weight, purity level, and the prevailing market price for gold. Rather than market pricing which fluctuates daily, the New York Fed uses the United States official book value of $42.2222 per troy ounce for gold holdings.
- ceejayoz 1y ago> Surely any exchange is done at the prevailing rates. Nothing prevents Germany from just gifting Poland a few bars in exchange for resolution of some minor border dispute.
- kasey_junk 1y agoThat 8000 tonnes number is how much gold the US owns themselves. Not gold held for foreign governments.
- reactordev 1y agoYeah I realized this about an hour after posting. My mind is blown that we just horde gold for other nations because because.
- 627467 1y agoWhat else would be meaningful in this context? Are sovereign countries currently restricted in trading gold backed securities when stored abroad? I don't think so.
- WinstonSmith84 1y agoThat's what it is about. If it were securities, that would be practically irrelevant. The gold is stored in Manhattan, in the Fed Reserve Bank of NY.
- petesergeant 1y agoNo, they could sell the gold in the US to purchase gold that’s already physically closer for a slight premium. Possibly that ends up being cheaper than actual transport.
- djtango 1y agoIn December there was a large movement of physical gold from London to New York as banks closed their EFP arbs. This was enough to put a lot of pressure on the market. I imagine if Germany did that with their reserves a similar effect would come about.
- petesergeant 1y agoThe question is if it screws the market prices more than the cost of lifting and shifting the gold themselves, which presumably would not be cheap.