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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Symbol of ResistanceAlongside bringing recognition to Bitcoin, the alpaca would also become a symbol of crypto resistance against the government and authorities through strange events. It’s important to understand that before Bitcoin arrived in 2009, cryptocurrency and cryptography, in general, had been largely criminalized by governments. This was especially the case during the chaotic Crypto Wars of the 1990s.Therefore, Bitcoin would be looked down upon and scrutinized upon its release. It also didn’t help the case that the anonymous network, the Silk Road, was discovered to be allowing users to buy illegal items in exchange for Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency was considered a dangerous and immoral form of currency, but the alpaca Bitcoin mascot was used to criticize these views. The most obvious example of this can be seen in the Bernard Von NotHaus criminal case. The Bernard von NotHaus CaseIn 1998, Bernard von NotHaus created the Liberty Dollar, a physical currency that could be used to buy select goods and services. Over a decade later, though, in 2009, Von NotHaus was arrested for counterfeiting after the government claimed that he was trying to compete with or even replace USD. U.S Code Sec. 486Von NotHaus’ arrest fell under the U.S Code Sec. 486, which, in short, states that anyone attempting to “pass any coins or gold or silver or other metal, intended for use as a current money, whether in the resemblance of coins of the US or foreign countries, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than five years.” This law was written in 1994, during the peak of the crypto wars. Many felt it was old-fashioned and that it should be rewritten to clarify that counterfeiting is only a crime, not competition with the US dollar. What’s especially important here, though, is that NotHaus was being labeled
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