what is important to remember is that people who ignored the law made a huge return on holding their gold, and people who followed the law lost out

bans are a very strong advertisement for piling into the asset being banned. especially when holders of the asset in question are quite difficult to identify

another related point is that busting regulations is a great way to create great wealth. Dhirubhai Ambani created his first capital by smuggling. the Rothschilds did too – by busting Napoleon's sanctions

make your own conclusions about ways to behave in response to economic regulations ;)