
Ask HN: What are some of the ways to destroy your asset without giving it away? - thrwaway69
are there ways to just burn millions in bank account without redistribution or donating back?
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GaryNumanVevo
Serious answer: I run a business doing this exact thing for some very wealth
clients looking to disappear some cash. My fee is 5% of the total assets you
want destroyed. I offer a few different methods, so get in touch and I should
be able to get it sorted.

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ThrowawayR2
I've always liked Leonard Wibberley's idea from "The Mouse On Wall Street":
buy stock in a company that's headed towards bankruptcy. As the stock price
continues to fall, your money essentially vanishes into thin air.

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thrwaway69
Isn't that redistribution? Aren't you sweeping debt of the bankrupt company by
buying its share thus pumping money into the economy? or am I missing
something here?

How will it vanish into thin air?

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ThrowawayR2
> " _Aren 't you sweeping debt of the bankrupt company by buying its share
> thus pumping money into the economy?_"

In theory, the shares at the time of purchase are worth the amount of cash
that the market price is. The owner of the shares may realize a net gain or
loss relative to their own purchase price but that doesn't change the fact
that $X of shares are being exchanged for the equal and equivalent $X in cash.
So what is being redistributed?

> " _How will it vanish into thin air?_ "

As the shares trend from price $X to zero, where does the value go? Answer
that and you will have answered your question.

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fosco
I offer you the opportunity to wire it to me and you'll never have to think
about it again.

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smt88
Sell it for $1 in cash, then burn the dollar.

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thrwaway69
It is illegal to burn $, no?

[https://www.thoughtco.com/is-burning-money-
illegal-3367953](https://www.thoughtco.com/is-burning-money-illegal-3367953)

Selling it for a dollar doesn't lower the value of the assets or stop it from
circulating back into the economy?

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quaquaqua1
Based on your requirements, I think you would be able to withdraw the cash
from the bank, put it into a briefcase and sink it to the bottom of the ocean
in some "accident" :) You are right it's technically illegal to willingly
deface currency, like melting pennies for copper.

Another idea is to find someone who will sell you something at face value,
that they also acquired for face value, such as silver bars or copper bars or
something of that nature.

In that scenario, the person who originally sold the metal to the guy who
sells it to you will have made a profit, but not a very big one after
accounting for the expense they went through to obtain it. This is one way I
can think of that avoids the technical illegality of defacing currency.

But I would definitely put the cash in a shredder or burn it. It will be quite
difficult to prove what you did with the cash-- you can just say you spent it
on consumable goods like food, drinks, vacations, blah blah :)

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thrwaway69
would it be for millions or even billions? I feel like that last option would
attract attention soon.

Not sure how legal would it be to buy a block of potentially more valuable
land and put nuclear waste on it both paid by your money?

I guess, other ideas include paying selective group more and target loans for
risk taking behavior causing holes in a small economic country by creating
instability and inequality. Maybe pay people to pollute their land? Marketing
to make people unhealthier and reduce their life expectancy or invest in
scams/drugs? Although all of those seems less direct and depends on generating
negative value to counter the spread of money.

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quaquaqua1
It's a strange and interesting thought.

Buying silver with your cash and then sinking it to the bottom of the ocean
would definitely destroy economic value. Silver is used for producing goods
and protecting against inflation. If you start destroying silver faster than
the world is producing it, you will measure your economic impact by the rise
in price of silver, since you reduced the supply. It currently isn't illegal
to destroy silver, but the US govt has made laws in the past regarding the
confiscation of silver in times of scarcity.

Putting nuclear waste on land, specifically useful land like manhattan or etc
would also destroy economic value and also be highly, highly illegal :) It
would desttoy money and make people's lives hard, because they would have to
spend money to relocate away from all the nuclear waste. Skyscrapers and
tunnels would become worthless as there's no reason to go near them anymore.

Convincing people to give you money in a scam also destroys economic value
because they are not getting anything in return for their money sent to you :)

Ultimately, the world economy is built on labor and resources. If you destroy
resources and also make it impossible for people to perform labor, then you've
destroyed value, measured in dollars :)

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thrwaway69
Interesting case about silver. What if someone wants ethical disposal of the
money?

One idea I could think of is funding legal euthanasia (where it's allowed).
That should be 'ethical' and cost economically more in the long term disposing
value you invested.

Human life in UK for example costs about 2-4 million dollars.

