Putting A Trillion Dollars Of Platinum In Perspective

So you want a trillion dollar platinum coin? Ok: here are some facts: Platinum has traditionally been the most valuable precious metal for one simple reason: it is rare. It is so rare, that all the platinum ever mined could fit into a 25 cubic foot box. The weight of that box comes out to just over 16 tons: this is how much platinum has been mined since the start of time. A coin valued at $1 trillion and made out of platinum would, at today's price of $1557/ounce, weigh in at 642.3 million ounces. 642.3 million ounces is also roughly 18 thousand tons, or about 1100 times more than all the platinum in circulation. In other words, putting a coin that is worth $1 trillion in perspective to all the platinum ever mined, would look something like this: Now, putting the sheer legal idiocy of the proposal aside, and CNBC's John Carney has written a good article about why it is indeed, leg...