Magichi took $100,000 in cash to the Soviet Union. In this era, unlike the future, one could not just take a flight and land there directly.
Magichi's planned route was to first take a ship to Europe, and then travel to the Soviet Union by train. Additionally, he needed to find a way to exchange his $100,000 into Gold Rubles. As for the Soviet Chervonets banknotes, they would not appear until October of this year.
As for the Ruble banknote... well, the speed of inflation during this period was not much different from that of the German Mark.
