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One hundred eleven Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions each representing the burning of $1 and $100 US bills have caught the attention of enthusiasts and the Web 3.0 media.
All are trying to understand the symbolism behind turning into ashes the equivalent of $10,101 while risking jail and fines, given that it may be illegal to light up cash in the United States under Federal Law.
Anciently, burning money had spiritual symbolism. For thousands of years, people in China burnt money for the spirits of deceased family members, ancestors and myriads of demons and divinities.
In Buddhist belief, burning money enables ancestors to purchase luxuries and other things they need for a comfortable afterlife.
The act of publicly burning bills or other forms of fiat currencies currently has two main objectives artistic expression and protest.
Often, burning money is a way to point out how worthless fiat currencies are.
History of burnt currency
The act of burning currency is well-versed across history and the world.
In the early 18th century, New York City courts publicly burned counterfeit bills they seized to show people how dangerous and worthless fake money is.
Of course, back then, the US monetary system was backed by the value of physical gold.
That is no longer the case, so many argue that US notes are about as worthless as counterfeit bills.
In 1984, the popular French celebrity Serge Gainsbourg burned a 500 Francs banknote on television to protest the elevated taxes.
Arguably, the most dramatic money burning occurred in August 1994 when Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty of the electronic dance music band KLF set £1 million in cash on fire on a Scottish island designed to challenge anti-capitalism, corporate power and copyright laws.
In 2010, Swedish Feminist Initiative spokeswoman Gudrun Seeman burned 100,000 Swedish kronor during a speech about the gender pay gap.
Eight years later, the artist collective Distributed Galleries created two machines called Chaos Machines that burn banknotes and convert them into cryptocurrency while playing music.
As recently as August 2023, Argentinian football soccer fans burned and tore bank bills, mocking the country’s spiraling inflation.
Local authorities responded to these actions, saying those caught destroying the local currency could face up to 30 days in jail.
Burning dollars in the US
Although the 111 US bills burned for the enigmatic collection, as referred to by a…
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