Bitcoiners have a knack for rebellion. They champion above all else the decentralized nature of Bitcoin, and how it can’t be controlled by a central bank or other centralized entity. They can carry an aversion to banks – private or public – and governments, as well. That explains some images which recently surfaced on the Internet.
The creative additions to the photographed $100 bills could cost the defacer his or her freedom. But that didn’t stop one Redditor – who goes by the name maxfieldo, or possibly Max Field – from turning “ Benjamins ” into a vessel for bitcoin. Source: Imgur He calls the set of ten, which he purchased on eBay, “uncirculated and sequential.” The serials end in 01-10. The bills were printed in 2009, the year in which Bitcoin’s genesis block – that is, the first bitcoins – was mined. On Reddit, he bartered the bills for other Bitcoin-related objects. Posted are eight $100 bills. Each reads: “This note holds .23 bitcoins; the equivalent of $100 USD on January 3rd, 2016 – the 7th anniversary of the Bitcoin Blockchain.” At least one of the bills had been put in a holder akin to that of a collector’s.
Although some threads on the Internet maintain destroying money is legal, those who do so “in real life” could face criminal charges. The misunderstanding often centers around penny souvenir machines, in which a coin is mutilated to commemorate an event or location. The legal code (18 USC § 333) spells it out. Whoever mutilates, cuts defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note or other eveidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve Bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such […]
