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Comment by macksd | Hacker News Reader

Studies repeatedly show that almost all currency is contaminated with traces of drugs.

In The Netherlands we don't need this. A sufficient amount of cash is enough to get you arrested. You will get a trial though.

Well in USA it is not illegal to carry cash (and for a good reason) but more than theft you have to worry about cops stealing it. Which is what makes it problematic.

If you are an actual drug dealer you can hire one of those armored cash moving trucks to move your cash and the cops will never bother stopping it.

I remember an instance on HN maybe 9 years ago or so where the treasurer of a third-party on the US was detained at the airport and questioned about the amount of cash he was carrying. Probably seems reasonable, as I would imagine most people carrying massive quantities of cash aren't up to any good. But no one was able to tell him if he was actually required to answer the questions in order to be allowed to travel and retain ownership of the cash. He kept getting passed around until eventually someone told him that yes, he was required to answer the question. Which I believe is incorrect - I expect they got sued afterward.

edit: I believe this was the incident: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-sues-dhs-over-unlaw...

edit 2: It was $4700. Wouldn't raise eyebrows in a bank withdrawal. Not what I had in mind when I said "massive".

In NL there is current proposal to prohibit cash transactions > 3k.

A EU wide rule may follow, but maybe a bit higher.

Such rules wont fly in USA as Americans generally guard their liberties better than EU or NL. There is no reason why there should be any restriction on cash transactions. But in USA which has a huge network of cash/coin operated machines such a restriction would not be possible either.

Sometimes I feel restrictions on cash are at the behest of large banks ad duopolies like Mastercard and Visa.

In the US cash transactions over 10k are highly regulated. And interestingly even making a series of withdrawals for say $9,500 is also illegal, even though it’s under the limit. They call it “structuring” and even politicians in the US Congress have been charged with this.

"higly regulated" isn't really accurate. Banks have a reporting requirement but there aren't really any restrictions on individuals or their ability to make such transactions.

The actual restrictions are (as you mentioned) on transactions under 10k that need to avoid any possible appearance of structuring to avoid the 10k deposit reporting

Dennis Hassert , former speaker of the house, was convicted of exactly this for withdrawing cash to pay off the blackmailer who threatened to go public with Hassert history of child sex abuse when he was a wrestling coach.

I don’t know if there are casinos, card rooms, and/or home game poker scene in NL. If so, how do professional and semi-professional poker players carry their cash?

Carrying $20k+ to a good home game is not uncommon in California.

Even if it's sitting in a safety deposit box?

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