WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.140 Imagine for a second that you are holding a single 00:00:03.140 --> 00:00:05.980 piece of paper in your hand. It's crisp, it's 00:00:05.980 --> 00:00:08.660 brightly colored, and well, it is worth over 00:00:08.660 --> 00:00:13.599 $2 .2 million. Which is just a staggering, almost 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:16.079 unimaginable amount of money to hold physically. 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:19.510 Right. Exactly. Now imagine that you take that 00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:21.170 piece of paper, you walk down to your local bank 00:00:21.170 --> 00:00:23.469 to deposit it, and instead of, you know, handing 00:00:23.469 --> 00:00:26.350 you a lollipop and a deposit slip, the teller 00:00:26.350 --> 00:00:29.510 just quietly locks the doors. Oh, wow. Yeah, 00:00:29.510 --> 00:00:31.649 and they immediately call the federal authorities 00:00:31.649 --> 00:00:34.210 because if the police catch you with this specific 00:00:34.210 --> 00:00:36.789 piece of paper, you are actually committing a 00:00:36.789 --> 00:00:39.609 federal crime just by holding it. It really does 00:00:39.609 --> 00:00:41.530 sound like the setup to some kind of Hollywood 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:43.850 heist movie. It totally does. But it's actually 00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:47.140 a very real and honestly very strange chapter 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:49.659 of American financial history. I mean, we are 00:00:49.659 --> 00:00:52.700 so used to the money in our wallets being perfectly 00:00:52.700 --> 00:00:55.179 normal, everyday stuff. Yeah, just completely 00:00:55.179 --> 00:00:58.179 mundane. Exactly. We think of money as something 00:00:58.179 --> 00:01:00.520 scaled to our daily lives, right? Yeah. Something 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:02.579 meant to buy a cup of coffee or pay a repair 00:01:02.579 --> 00:01:06.280 bill, or maybe if you were feeling the pinch 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:08.799 of inflation lately, stretch to cover a week 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:11.060 of groceries. Oh, definitely feeling that pinch. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:13.790 Right. But we almost never think about the physical 00:01:13.790 --> 00:01:16.510 mechanisms of money when it scales up to the 00:01:16.510 --> 00:01:19.290 level of moving these mind -boggling nation -state 00:01:19.290 --> 00:01:22.680 amounts. Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:25.079 taking you on a mission to explore the ultimate 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:27.500 forbidden treasure. We really are. We're taking 00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:29.920 you back to the 1930s to look at the striking 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.939 design, the really intense historical crisis, 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:36.700 and the frankly bizarre legal status of the United 00:01:36.700 --> 00:01:40.799 States $100 ,000 bill. The big one. The absolute 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:43.780 highest denomination U .S. currency ever printed. 00:01:44.180 --> 00:01:46.620 And our sources today give us a perfectly clear 00:01:46.620 --> 00:01:49.680 factual look at this incredibly strange object 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.340 and it is such a remarkable story because it 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:54.579 completely forces you to rethink what money actually 00:01:54.579 --> 00:01:58.480 is like when you get to a piece of paper with 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:02.799 a $100 ,000 face value you are no longer talking 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:06.019 about pocket change or even consumer spending 00:02:06.019 --> 00:02:08.300 no definitely not you're looking at a highly 00:02:08.300 --> 00:02:11.159 specialized heavy -duty instrument one that was 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:14.759 engineered for a very specific very desperate 00:02:14.759 --> 00:02:16.939 moment in time. OK, let's unpack this, because 00:02:16.939 --> 00:02:18.800 before we can really understand the why of it 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:20.599 all, we really need to picture the what. Right, 00:02:20.740 --> 00:02:22.659 the physical object itself. Exactly. Imagine 00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:25.620 you're holding this behemoth. The physical dimensions 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:32.099 are 157 millimeters wide by 66 millimeters high. 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:34.860 So it's a substantial, very tangible object. 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:36.740 It is. And right on the front, the obverse of 00:02:36.740 --> 00:02:39.759 the bill, there is this highly formal vignette 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:42.460 portrait. of President Woodrow Wilson. Yeah, 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:44.500 and the engraving work on that portrait of Woodrow 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:46.340 Wilson, that was done by George Frederick Cummings 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:49.460 Smilley. Oh, really? Yeah. And it is an incredibly 00:02:49.460 --> 00:02:52.819 detailed, serious piece of portraiture. I mean, 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:55.180 it looks exactly like what you would expect from 00:02:55.180 --> 00:02:57.360 the highest echelons of the Bureau of Engraving 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:00.000 and Printing. It has a lot of bravitas. It definitely 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.199 demands respect. It even has Washington DC printed 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:05.319 right there in a really bold font. But you know, 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:08.039 the text on this bill is what really stops you 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:09.860 in your tracks. Oh, absolutely. Because it doesn't 00:03:09.860 --> 00:03:13.039 just say $100 ,000 and leave it at that. It spells 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:15.960 out a very specific, legally binding promise. 00:03:16.139 --> 00:03:19.240 Right. It reads, and I'm quoting here, this is 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.599 to certify that there is on deposit in the Treasury 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:25.319 of the United States of America. And then it 00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:30.569 says, $100 ,000 in gold payable to bearer on 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:34.289 demand as authorized by law. We really need to 00:03:34.289 --> 00:03:36.909 pause on that phrasing because it is the absolute 00:03:36.909 --> 00:03:39.669 key to understanding this entire object. The 00:03:39.669 --> 00:03:42.530 payable to bearer part. Exactly, payable to bearer 00:03:42.530 --> 00:03:45.110 on demand. We need to clearly define the difference 00:03:45.110 --> 00:03:47.469 between the cash you use today and what this 00:03:47.469 --> 00:03:49.550 bill actually was. Okay, break that down for 00:03:49.550 --> 00:03:52.169 us. So the cash in your wallet today, that's 00:03:52.169 --> 00:03:54.909 a Federal Reserve note. greenback right it's 00:03:54.909 --> 00:03:57.009 backed by the faith and credit of the US government 00:03:57.009 --> 00:04:00.729 it's essentially just a promise but this $100 00:04:00.729 --> 00:04:03.870 ,000 bill was strictly a gold certificate so 00:04:03.870 --> 00:04:06.509 it's not just a promise it's more like a claim 00:04:06.509 --> 00:04:09.189 ticket precisely think of it like a coat check 00:04:09.189 --> 00:04:12.770 ticket at a well a very exclusive club I like 00:04:12.770 --> 00:04:14.789 that analogy right when you hand the attendant 00:04:14.789 --> 00:04:17.029 your cope they give you a little numbered piece 00:04:17.029 --> 00:04:19.879 of cardboard Yeah. Now, that cardboard isn't 00:04:19.879 --> 00:04:22.480 the code itself, but it is a legally binding 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:25.839 receipt that proves you own a specific physical 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:29.439 coat hanging in their back room. Oh, wow. A gold 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:32.160 certificate functioned the exact same way. That 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.920 piece of paper was a literal warehouse receipt 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:38.160 for an unimaginable amount of actual physical 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:40.759 gold sitting in a government vault. Which is 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:43.360 just wild to think about. It really is. And it 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:45.879 goes even further because right above the treasury 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:48.439 seal, it includes the text, This certificate 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:51.120 is legal tender in the amount thereof in payment 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:53.660 of all debts and dues public and private. Right. 00:04:53.699 --> 00:04:56.060 So it is officially declaring itself to be valid 00:04:56.060 --> 00:04:59.720 money. In no uncertain terms. But here's the 00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:02.019 visual irony that I just cannot get over. OK, 00:05:02.019 --> 00:05:04.759 let's hear it. So it is officially a gold certificate, 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:07.899 right? It represents a literal fortune in gold 00:05:07.899 --> 00:05:10.040 bullion. You would really think it would look 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:12.620 the part. You would expect it to be glistening 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:16.180 in metallic ink, looking incredibly regal and 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:18.319 weighty. Like a pirate's treasure map or something. 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:21.540 Exactly. But it actually exhibits very little 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:23.699 gold ink on the front. Just a tiny bit, yeah. 00:05:23.819 --> 00:05:26.420 Just the treasury seal and two serial numbers 00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:29.120 are printed in gold. The rest is very subdued, 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:31.680 very formal. But then you flip it over. Oh, the 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:33.600 reverse of the bill. That is where the design 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:36.000 just goes completely off the rails. It is genuinely 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.180 jarring. You flip it over to the reverse, and 00:05:38.180 --> 00:05:41.420 there is this massive, unavoidable number, 500 00:05:41.420 --> 00:05:44.439 ,000, centered right in front of a US dollar 00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:47.360 sign. Unmissable. And instead of using gold ink 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:50.639 to signify the gold backing, the entire back 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:54.279 is printed in this blinding bright orange ink. 00:05:54.360 --> 00:05:56.959 It's so bright. And it's not just a flat orange 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:00.100 either. It has these sun -like rays radiating 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:03.160 out from the center. Right. it sounds less like 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:05.819 serious government currency and more like a glowing, 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:08.800 mythical artifact or, you know, if we're being 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:11.199 completely honest, a bright orange construction 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:13.560 cone. What's fascinating here is that stark, 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:17.899 almost absurd visual contrast. Yeah. On one hand, 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:20.939 you have the ultimate representation of serious 00:06:20.939 --> 00:06:24.759 unimaginable wealth backed by a literal mountain 00:06:24.759 --> 00:06:27.699 of gold. Right. And on the other hand, the physical 00:06:27.699 --> 00:06:32.089 design is almost flashy. It's loud. Those radiating 00:06:32.089 --> 00:06:34.850 orange rays make it look urgent and utilitarian 00:06:34.850 --> 00:06:37.930 rather than regal. Utilitarian is the perfect 00:06:37.930 --> 00:06:40.310 word for it. I mean, you don't design a multimillion 00:06:40.310 --> 00:06:42.610 dollar bill to look like a traffic cone unless 00:06:42.610 --> 00:06:45.329 you are in an absolute panic. Right. You're trying 00:06:45.329 --> 00:06:48.290 to solve a very specific, very urgent problem, 00:06:48.610 --> 00:06:50.670 which I think brings us to the history. Yes, 00:06:50.670 --> 00:06:52.629 let's get into that. Why did the government suddenly 00:06:52.629 --> 00:06:55.029 wake up in the mid 1930s and decide they needed 00:06:55.029 --> 00:06:58.269 to print a massive bright orange Woodrow Wilson 00:06:58.269 --> 00:07:01.100 bill? Well, the answer lies entirely in the intense 00:07:01.100 --> 00:07:03.439 economic panic of that era. The Great Depression. 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:06.939 Exactly. This bill was commissioned in 1933 and 00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:10.420 then physically printed between 1934 and 1935. 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:14.120 So we are talking about the absolute rock bottom 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:16.339 of the Great Depression. A time when the entire 00:07:16.339 --> 00:07:18.779 financial system literally felt like it was crumbling 00:07:18.779 --> 00:07:21.339 into dust. It really did. Yeah. And the bill 00:07:21.339 --> 00:07:23.899 was ordered directly by President Franklin D. 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:26.939 Roosevelt. FDR himself. Right. At that time, 00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:30.540 The government was facing a massive systemic 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:34.120 crisis. The American public was hoarding gold. 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:37.079 Oh, wow. Yeah. In an atmosphere of just total 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:40.240 economic terror, everyday people simply didn't 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:43.019 trust the banks. Which makes sense. Of course. 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:45.839 They had watched banks fail and wipe out their 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:48.199 life savings overnight. They didn't trust paper 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:50.680 money anymore. Right. They wanted the tangible, 00:07:51.019 --> 00:07:54.000 unchangeable security of physical gold coins 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.769 and gold bullion. They were literally burying 00:07:56.769 --> 00:07:58.610 it in their backyards and stuffing it into their 00:07:58.610 --> 00:08:00.790 mattresses. Which, like you said, makes perfect 00:08:00.790 --> 00:08:03.149 sense on an individual level. If you feel like 00:08:03.149 --> 00:08:05.009 the world is ending, you hold onto the shiny 00:08:05.009 --> 00:08:07.009 stuff, you hold onto the hard assets. Individual 00:08:07.009 --> 00:08:09.350 panic usually does make sense to the individual. 00:08:09.550 --> 00:08:12.730 Yeah. But from a macroeconomic perspective, the 00:08:12.730 --> 00:08:15.170 government believed that this widespread hoarding 00:08:15.170 --> 00:08:17.750 of gold was a fatal threat to the country. Because 00:08:17.750 --> 00:08:20.189 it was actively slowing down economic regrowth. 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:23.110 Exactly. Think of an economy like a circulatory 00:08:23.110 --> 00:08:26.110 system. OK. Money and assets are the blood. They 00:08:26.110 --> 00:08:28.569 need to move and flow for the body to survive. 00:08:28.589 --> 00:08:30.589 Right, circulation. So if everyone buries their 00:08:30.589 --> 00:08:32.570 gold in the backyard, it acts like a tourniquet. 00:08:32.789 --> 00:08:36.049 The velocity of money drops to zero, and the 00:08:36.049 --> 00:08:39.190 economic engine just seizes up completely. Wow. 00:08:40.220 --> 00:08:43.480 Roosevelt takes sweeping, unprecedented action. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:47.320 He had to. He signs Executive Order 6102, which 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:49.879 was then ratified by the United States Congress 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:54.500 in 1934. And this order was incredibly aggressive. 00:08:54.620 --> 00:08:57.600 Oh, it was sweeping. It flat out prohibited the 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:59.940 hoarding of gold certificates, and it was accompanied 00:08:59.940 --> 00:09:02.840 by a strict ban on the public hoarding of gold 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:05.580 bullion and gold coins as well. Right. The government 00:09:05.580 --> 00:09:07.980 essentially made it illegal for regular Americans 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:10.740 to hold on to their own gold. It was a drastic 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:13.220 measure for a very drastic time. It really was. 00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:15.179 OK, wait, wait. I have to push back on the logic 00:09:15.179 --> 00:09:16.919 here. Because I am trying to wrap my head around 00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:19.840 this. If the entire problem was that regular, 00:09:20.139 --> 00:09:24.139 everyday people were hoarding gold. How on earth 00:09:24.139 --> 00:09:27.720 does printing a massive bright orange $100 ,000 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:31.080 gold certificate fix that? Right. It seems counterintuitive. 00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:33.279 Especially if the public isn't even allowed to 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:35.419 have it. Was the government just stepping in 00:09:35.419 --> 00:09:38.100 to become the ultimate hoarder themselves? Well, 00:09:38.379 --> 00:09:40.559 if we connect this to the bigger picture, it 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:43.620 actually makes a kind of ruthless macroeconomic 00:09:43.620 --> 00:09:46.379 sense. Okay, how so? The government needed to 00:09:46.379 --> 00:09:49.259 pull that physical gold out of private hands 00:09:49.259 --> 00:09:52.929 and consolidate it in the treasury. Right. And 00:09:52.929 --> 00:09:56.429 why? Because under the gold standard, the banking 00:09:56.429 --> 00:09:59.690 system needed that gold to legally back the broader 00:09:59.690 --> 00:10:02.590 currency and stabilize the whole system. Oh, 00:10:02.590 --> 00:10:04.649 I see. They weren't hoarding it just to sit on 00:10:04.649 --> 00:10:06.909 it like a dragon on a pile of treasure. They 00:10:06.909 --> 00:10:09.830 were pooling it to restart that frozen economic 00:10:09.830 --> 00:10:12.350 engine we talked about. Where does the $100 ,000 00:10:12.350 --> 00:10:14.649 bill fit into that engine? That's the part I 00:10:14.649 --> 00:10:16.429 don't get. Let's go back to our coat check analogy 00:10:16.429 --> 00:10:18.730 for a second. OK, the coat check. The government 00:10:18.730 --> 00:10:21.659 forced everyone to hand over their coats, their 00:10:21.659 --> 00:10:25.639 physical gold. Now the treasury has tons of gold 00:10:25.639 --> 00:10:28.320 in its vaults, but the Federal Reserve Banks, 00:10:28.460 --> 00:10:31.320 which actually manage the money supply, still 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:33.659 need a way to account for that monumental wealth 00:10:33.659 --> 00:10:36.289 on their balance sheets. So they can start lending 00:10:36.289 --> 00:10:38.529 money again. Exactly, to get the economy moving. 00:10:38.610 --> 00:10:41.250 Right. But they needed a way to prove who had 00:10:41.250 --> 00:10:44.309 what. Ah, they needed massive claim tickets. 00:10:44.350 --> 00:10:47.230 You hit the nail on the head. To move that astronomical 00:10:47.230 --> 00:10:49.269 amount of wealth around the highest levels of 00:10:49.269 --> 00:10:52.649 banking system, they needed a tool. Right. Because 00:10:52.649 --> 00:10:54.690 you can't just put a million dollars in physical 00:10:54.690 --> 00:10:57.409 gold coins onto a truck every time two Federal 00:10:57.409 --> 00:10:59.049 Reserve banks need to settle an account with 00:10:59.049 --> 00:11:01.389 each other. No, of course not. That's way too 00:11:01.389 --> 00:11:04.009 heavy. Too heavy, too slow, and way too dangerous. 00:11:04.330 --> 00:11:08.389 So they created this high -level macroeconomic 00:11:08.389 --> 00:11:12.370 tool disguised as paper money. Wow. It was used 00:11:12.370 --> 00:11:15.559 purely to transfer monumental sums between the 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:17.820 vaults of the Federal Reserve banks. So it was 00:11:17.820 --> 00:11:20.320 an inter -bank ledger system, essentially, just 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:22.960 printed on paper. Exactly. That perfectly explains 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:24.840 why they designed it the way they did. It didn't 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:27.179 need to look pretty or regal for the public. 00:11:27.659 --> 00:11:30.820 It just needed to be highly visible and undeniably 00:11:30.820 --> 00:11:34.059 official for the bank clerks. Like a giant orange 00:11:34.059 --> 00:11:36.899 receipt. Right. Which I think... brings us to 00:11:36.899 --> 00:11:39.120 the secret life of this bizarre piece of paper. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:41.720 It does. Because it was an exclusive tool for 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:43.620 the highest levels of government rather than 00:11:43.620 --> 00:11:46.639 the public, its life cycle was highly secretive 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:50.259 and heavily regulated. Extremely regulated. It 00:11:50.259 --> 00:11:52.980 never circulated publicly. Not a single one of 00:11:52.980 --> 00:11:55.500 these ever went into a civilian's wallet or a 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:58.500 grocery store cash register. Never. Never. It 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:01.340 was used strictly for those interbank gold transactions. 00:12:01.980 --> 00:12:04.580 Think of them like the massive rectangular plaques 00:12:04.580 --> 00:12:08.340 they use in the high stakes VIP rooms of a casino. 00:12:08.600 --> 00:12:10.440 Oh, that's a great way to picture it. Right. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:13.320 Those plaques might say $100 ,000 on them, but 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:15.659 they only have value to the specific players 00:12:15.659 --> 00:12:18.519 at that specific table. Right. If you take that 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:20.919 casino plaque to a grocery store, it is completely 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:23.440 worthless. Exactly. The one hundred thousand 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:25.620 dollar bill was essentially the government's 00:12:25.620 --> 00:12:27.860 high stakes poker chip. And because its use case 00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:30.940 was so incredibly narrow, the Bureau of Engraving 00:12:30.940 --> 00:12:33.460 and Printing didn't actually produce very many 00:12:33.460 --> 00:12:35.919 of them, right? No, they didn't. They only printed 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.340 about forty two thousand of these bills. Forty 00:12:38.340 --> 00:12:40.700 two thousand. That might sound like a lot of 00:12:40.700 --> 00:12:43.039 paper to some people until you remember that 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:46.080 we print millions of single dollar bills every 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:48.659 single day. Exactly, it's a tiny print run. But 00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:51.440 let's talk about the sheer density of wealth 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:54.360 represented by those 42 ,000 pieces of paper. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:58.220 Oh, the inflation adjustment. Yes, because $100 00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:02.700 ,000 in 1934 is obviously a fortune, but when 00:13:02.700 --> 00:13:04.940 you adjust it for inflation to understand what 00:13:04.940 --> 00:13:07.980 it means to you and me today, it becomes genuinely 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:11.019 staggering. It really does. A single one of these 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:14.500 bills from the 1934 printing would be worth roughly 00:13:14.500 --> 00:13:19.840 $2 ,296 ,000 in 2023. Wow. Or if you look at 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:24.840 the 1935 printing, it adjusts to about $2 ,246 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:28.879 ,000. So you're looking at roughly $2 .2 million 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:31.860 held on one single piece of paper. Measuring 00:13:31.860 --> 00:13:35.740 just 157 by 66 millimeters. The physical density 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:38.080 of that wealth is almost impossible to comprehend. 00:13:38.589 --> 00:13:41.389 Here's where it gets really interesting. This 00:13:41.389 --> 00:13:44.269 is the heist movie scenario we talked about right 00:13:44.269 --> 00:13:45.809 at the start of the deep dive. Right, the attic 00:13:45.809 --> 00:13:49.090 scenario. Exactly. Imagine you are cleaning out 00:13:49.090 --> 00:13:52.169 a grandparent's attic. You open an old dusty 00:13:52.169 --> 00:13:55.549 trunk, and tucked inside a book, you find a bright 00:13:55.549 --> 00:13:58.070 orange bill with Woodrow Wilson staring back 00:13:58.070 --> 00:13:59.870 at you. It would be quite a shock. You check 00:13:59.870 --> 00:14:04.090 the denomination. 100 ,000. You realize you've 00:14:04.090 --> 00:14:09.250 essentially just found a $2 .2 million lottery 00:14:09.250 --> 00:14:11.850 ticket sitting in your attic. But you can't spend 00:14:11.850 --> 00:14:15.090 it. No, you can't cash it in. In fact, it is 00:14:15.090 --> 00:14:17.850 literally a federal crime to even possess it. 00:14:17.990 --> 00:14:20.909 That is the ultimate delicious irony of this 00:14:20.909 --> 00:14:24.129 entire object. Possession of the $100 ,000 bill 00:14:24.129 --> 00:14:28.129 by private individuals is strictly entirely illegal. 00:14:28.250 --> 00:14:31.169 Which is crazy. It is. This is partially due 00:14:31.169 --> 00:14:33.250 to its massive denomination. But more importantly, 00:14:33.490 --> 00:14:36.370 it goes all the way back to those specific 1934 00:14:36.370 --> 00:14:38.950 regulations against hoarding gold certificates. 00:14:39.110 --> 00:14:41.879 It is the ultimate forbidden treasure. really 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:44.399 is. It's a paradox written in ink because it 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:47.000 literally says legal tender right there on the 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:49.980 obverse right above the treasury seal. It promises 00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:54.240 in writing to pay the bearer on demand. And yet 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:56.960 if you are the bearer you are breaking the law. 00:14:57.299 --> 00:14:59.360 The government essentially created a physical 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:03.379 manifestation of supreme wealth that is legally 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.480 toxic for a citizen to touch. Legally toxic. 00:15:06.580 --> 00:15:08.399 That's a great way to put it. And because of 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:10.649 its illegality. And because the mechanics of 00:15:10.649 --> 00:15:13.090 the gold standard eventually changed, which made 00:15:13.090 --> 00:15:16.009 these interbank tools obsolete, most of those 00:15:16.009 --> 00:15:19.090 original 42 ,000 bills did not survive. Right. 00:15:19.409 --> 00:15:21.590 Our sources mentioned that many were systematically 00:15:21.590 --> 00:15:23.669 destroyed in the years following their commission. 00:15:23.809 --> 00:15:26.090 Yes. You just have to picture government workers 00:15:26.090 --> 00:15:28.490 tossing millions and millions of dollars of these 00:15:28.490 --> 00:15:30.870 bright orange certificates into incinerators 00:15:30.870 --> 00:15:33.429 once the specific need for them had passed. It 00:15:33.429 --> 00:15:35.529 is a stunning visual, isn't it? It really is. 00:15:35.610 --> 00:15:37.590 And the remaining few that actually escaped the 00:15:37.590 --> 00:15:40.169 incinerator. They are securely in the possession 00:15:40.169 --> 00:15:42.029 of the United States federal government. So no 00:15:42.029 --> 00:15:44.769 private collectors have them? None. Outside of 00:15:44.769 --> 00:15:47.230 the federal government itself, there is only 00:15:47.230 --> 00:15:49.769 one legal use for these bills today, and that 00:15:49.769 --> 00:15:52.080 is for educational purposes. meaning you can 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:54.379 only see them in museums. Exactly. If you want 00:15:54.379 --> 00:15:56.759 to lay eyes on one of these mythical orange artifacts 00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:59.559 without risking a stint in federal prison, you 00:15:59.559 --> 00:16:02.080 have to go look at them behind reinforced glass. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:04.440 Very thick glass, I'm sure. Both the Smithsonian 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:06.879 Institution and the Federal Reserve System own 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.799 them for public viewing. Oh, really? Yeah. For 00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:11.820 example, if you visit the National Museum of 00:16:11.820 --> 00:16:15.340 American History, they have specific 1934 issues 00:16:15.340 --> 00:16:18.120 on display. You can actually go look at serial 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:28.659 number A 0000. Wow. It is quite something to 00:16:28.659 --> 00:16:31.320 stand in front of a museum case and look at serial 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:35.240 number one. of a $100 ,000 bill. I can only imagine. 00:16:35.399 --> 00:16:37.419 You are looking directly at a relic of a time 00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:39.539 when the government was forced to physically 00:16:39.539 --> 00:16:42.539 move giant pieces of paper just to account for 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:44.740 the movement of actual gold. So what does this 00:16:44.740 --> 00:16:46.960 all mean? Good question. We started today by 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.080 talking about the completely normal cash in your 00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:52.100 wallet, the modern pinch of inflation, and the 00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:54.799 simple curiosity about the biggest bill out there. 00:16:55.149 --> 00:16:57.669 I think the next time you tap your phone at a 00:16:57.669 --> 00:17:00.649 register to buy a coffee or, you know, you send 00:17:00.649 --> 00:17:04.190 a digital payment to a friend and watch the funds 00:17:04.190 --> 00:17:07.470 instantly transfer through the ether, you should 00:17:07.470 --> 00:17:10.849 think about this deep dive. Think about the incredible, 00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:14.029 almost absurd physical lengths the government 00:17:14.029 --> 00:17:20.349 had to go to in 1934. Yes. Printing 42 ,000 massive, 00:17:20.789 --> 00:17:24.329 bright orange, highly illegal certificates. Yeah. 00:17:24.539 --> 00:17:26.960 carefully engraving them with Woodrow Wilson's 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:30.279 portrait entirely just to be able to move wealth 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:32.740 between their own bank vaults. It's wild. It 00:17:32.740 --> 00:17:35.220 really highlights just how frictionless and abstract 00:17:35.220 --> 00:17:38.220 money has become today compared to the very physical, 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:41.220 very urgent, and very heavy nature of money during 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:43.299 the Great Depression. It was never pocket change. 00:17:43.380 --> 00:17:46.119 It was a heavy -duty macroeconomic tool born 00:17:46.119 --> 00:17:48.960 from sheer economic desperation, disguised as 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.940 paper money, and locked away from the public 00:17:50.940 --> 00:17:53.680 forever. But, you know, there's one final provocative 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:55.920 thought that I really cannot shake, drawn straight 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:57.519 from the history we have been exploring today. 00:17:57.660 --> 00:17:59.960 Oh, what's that? Well, the records show that 00:17:59.960 --> 00:18:03.480 the $100 ,000 bill was not a standalone anomaly. 00:18:03.660 --> 00:18:07.420 It was actually part of a much larger 1934 gold 00:18:07.420 --> 00:18:09.960 certificate series. Ah, right. It had siblings. 00:18:10.180 --> 00:18:14.660 Exactly. That 1934 series also included $100, 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:19.279 $1 ,000, and $10 ,000 notes. Oh, wow. All gold 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:21.920 certificates, all printed in that exact same 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:23.940 window of time. I see exactly where you're going 00:18:23.940 --> 00:18:27.599 with this. Right. If the $100 ,000 behemoth was 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:29.920 strictly reserved for federal reserve banks, 00:18:30.299 --> 00:18:33.259 never circulated publicly, and remains totally, 00:18:33.579 --> 00:18:36.579 strictly illegal for a private citizen to own 00:18:36.579 --> 00:18:39.440 today. Yeah. What happened to all those smaller 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:42.740 denominations from that exact same 1934 series? 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:45.180 Oh, that is a fascinating mystery. Right. Were 00:18:45.180 --> 00:18:47.819 average citizens allowed to keep the 100, the 00:18:47.819 --> 00:18:50.720 1 ,000, or the $10 ,000 gold certificates? Exactly. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:53.720 Or did they face the exact same illegal forbidden 00:18:53.720 --> 00:18:56.700 fate as their massive orange sibling? Were people 00:18:56.700 --> 00:18:59.200 criminalized for holding a $100 gold certificate 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:01.619 from that year? It's a great question. That is 00:19:01.619 --> 00:19:03.700 a brilliant unresolved thread and definitely 00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:05.839 something for you to look up and explore on your 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:08.880 own after we wrap up here today. Thank you so 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:11.000 much for joining us on this deep dive into the 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:14.000 most valuable and perhaps the most illegal piece 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:16.000 of paper the United States ever produced. Keep 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:18.140 wondering, keep exploring, and we will catch 00:19:18.140 --> 00:19:19.259 you on the next deep dive.